"BY 



i 



I 



TO THE 



UNCONVERTED; 

NOW OR NEVER; 

AND 

FIFTY REASONS. 

By RICHARD BAXTER. 

WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 
BY THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D. 

NEW YORK: 
EGBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET, 
AND PITTSBURG, 56 MARKET STREET. 



1845. 



ay 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



Having already introduced to the notice of our readers 
one of Richard Baxter's most valuable Treatises,* in the 
Essay to which, we adverted to the character and writings 
of this venerable author, we count it unnecessary at present 
to make any allusion to them, but shall confine our remarks 
to the subject of the three Treatises which compose the pre- 
sent volume, namely, " A Call to the Unconverted to 
turn and live ;" " Now or Never and " Fifty Reasons 

WHY A SINNER OUGHT TO TURN TO GOD THIS DAY WITHOUT 
DELAY." 

These Treatises are characterized by all that solemn 
earnestness, and urgency of appeal, for which the writings 
of this much admired author are so peculiarly distinguished. 
He seems to look upon mankind solely with the eyes of the 
Spirit, and exclusively to recognise them in their spiritual 
relations, and in the great and essential elements of their 
immortal being. Their future destiny is the all-important 
concern which fills and engrosses his mind, and he regards 
nothing of any magnitude but what has a distinct bearing 
on their spiritual and eternal condition. His business, 
therefore, is always with the conscience, to which, in these 
Treatises, he makes the most forcible appeals, and which 
he plies with all those arguments which are fitted to awaken 
the sinner to a deep sense of the necessity and importance 
of immediate repentance. In his " Call to the Unconverted," 
he endeavours to move them by the most touching of all 
representations, the tenderness of a beseeching God waiting 
to be gracious, and not willing that any should perish ; and 
while he employs every form of entreaty, which tenderness 
and compassion can suggest, to allure the sinner to " turn 
and live," he does not shrink from forcing on his convictions 
those considerations which are fitted to alarm his fears, the 
terrors of the Lord, and the wrath, not merely of an offended 
Lawgiver, but of a God of love, whose threatenings he dis- 
regards, whose grace he despises, and whose mercy he 
rejects. And aware of the deceitfulness of sin in hardening 

* The Saint's Everlasting Rest, with an Essay by Mr. Erskine. 



ft 



the heart, and in betraying the sinner into a neglect of his 
spiritual interests, he divests him of every refuge, and strips 
linn of every plea for postponing his preparation for eternity. 
He forcibly exposes the delusion of convenient seasons, and 
the awful infatuation and hazard of delay; and knowing 
the magnitude of the stake at issue, he urges the sinner to 
immediate reoentance, as if the fearful and almost absolute 
alternative were "Now 01 Never." And to secure the 
commencement of such an important work against all the 
dangers to which procrastination might expose it, he endeav- 
ours to arrest the sinner in his career of guilt and unconcern, 
and resolutely to fix his determination on " turning to God 
this day without delay." 

There are two very prevalent delusions on this subject, 
which we should like to expose; the one regards the nature, 
and the other the season of repentance ; both of which are 
pregnant with mischief to the minds of men. With regard to 
the first, much mischief has arisen from mistakes respecting 
the meaning of the term repentance. The word repentance 
occurs with two different meanings in the New Testament ; 
and it is to be regretted, that two different words could not 
have been devised to express these. This is chargeable 
upon the poverty of our language ; for it is to be observed, 
that in the original Greek the distinction in the meanings is 
pointed out by a distinction in the words. The employ- 
ment of one term to denote two different things has the effect 
of confounding and misleading the understanding ; and it is 
much to be wished, that every ambiguity of this kind were 
cleared away from that most interesting point in the process 
of a human soul, at which it turns from sin unto righteous- 
ness, and from the power of Satan unto God. 

"When, in common language, a man says, "I repent of 
such an action," he is understood to say, " I am sorry for 
having done it." The feeling is familiar to all of us. How 
often does the man of dissipation prove this sense of the word 
repentance, when he awakes in the morning, and, oppressed 
by the languor of his exhausted faculties, looks back with 
remorse on the follies and profligacies of the night that is 
past ? How often does the man of unguarded conversation 
prove it, when he thinks of the friend whose feelings he has 
"wounded by some hasty utterance which he cannot recall ? 
How often is it proved by the man of business, when he 
reflects on the rash engagement which ties him down to a 
losing speculation ? All these people would be perfectly 
understood when they say, " We repent of these doings.'* 
The word repentance so applied is about equivalent to the 



V 



word regret. There are several passages in the New Tes* 
tament where this is the undoubted sense of the word 
repentance. In Matt, xxvii. 3. the wretched Judas repented 
himself of his treachery ; and surely, when we think of the 
awful denunciation uttered by our Saviour against the man 
who should betray him, that it were better for him if he had 
not been born, we will never confound the repentance which 
Judas experienced with that repentance which is unto 
salvation. 

Now here lies the danger to practical Christianity. In 
the above cited passage, to repent is just to regret, or to be 
sorry for ; and this we conceive to be by far the most pre- 
vailing sense of the term in the English language. But 
there are other places where the same term is employed to 
denote that which is urged upon us as a duty — that which is 
preached for the remission of sins — that which is so indis- 
pensable to sinners, as to call forth the declaration from our 
Saviour, that unless we have it, we shall all likewise perish. 
Now, though repentance, in all these cases, is expressed by 
the same term in our translation as the repentance of mere 
regret, it is expressed by a different term in the original 
record of our faith. This surely might lead us to suspect a 
difference of meaning, and should caution us against taking 
up with that, as sufficient for the business of our salvation, 
which is short of saving and scriptural repentance. There 
may be an alternation of wilful sin, and of deep-felt sorrow, 
up to the very end of our history — there may be a presump- 
tuous sin committed every day, and a sorrow regularly 
succeeding it. Sorrow may imbitter every act of sin — sorrow 
may darken every interval of sinful indulgence — and sorrow 
may give an unutterable anguish to the pains and the pros- 
pects of a deathbed. Couple all this with the circumstance 
that sorrow passes, in the common currency of our language, 
for repentance, and that repentance is made, by our Bible, 
to lie at the turning point from a state of condemnation to a 
state of acceptance with God ; and it is difficult not to con- 
ceive that much danger may have arisen from this, leading 
to indistinct views of the nature of repentance, and to slender 
and superficial conceptions of the mighty change which is 
implied in it. 

We are far from saying that the eye of Christians is not 
open to this danger — and that the vigilant care of Christian 
authors has not been employed in averting it. Where will 
we get a better definition of repentance unto life than in our 
Shorter Catechism ? by which'the sinner is represented not 
merely as grieving, but, along with his grief and hatred of 



vi 

sin, as turning from it unto God with full purpose of, and 
endeavour after new obedience. But the mischief is, that the 
word repent has a common meaning, different from the 
theological ; that wherever it is used, this common meaning 
is apt to intrude itself, and exert a kind of habitual imposi- 
tion upon the understanding — that the influence of the single 
word carries it over the influence of the lengthened explana- 
tion — and thus it is that, for a steady progress in the obedi- 
ence of the gospel, many persevere, to the end of their days^ 
in a wretched course of sinning and of sorrowing, without 
fruit and without amendment. 

To save the practically mischievous effect arising from 
the application of one term to two different things, one dis- 
tinct and appropriate term has been suggested for the saving 
repentance of the New Testament. The term repentance 
itself has been restricted to the repentance of mere sorrow,, 
and is made equivalent to regret ; and for the other, able 
translators have adopted the word reformation. The one 
is expressive of sorrow for our past conduct ; the other is 
expressive of our renouncing it. It denotes an actual turn- 
ing from the habits of life that we are sorry for. Give us, 
say they, a change from bad deeds to good deeds, from bad 
habits to good habits, from a life of wickedness to a life of 
conformity to the requirements of heaven, and you give u& 
reformation. 

Now there is often nothing more unprofitable than a dis- 
pute about words ; but if a word has got into common use, 
a common and generally understood meaning is attached to 
it ; and if this meaning does not just come up to the thing 
which we want to express by it, the application of that word 
to that thing has the same misleading effects as in the case 
already alluded to. Now, we have much the same kind of 
exception to allege against the term reformation, that we 
have alleged against the term repentance. The term re- 
pentance is inadequate — and why ? because, in the common 
use of it, it is equivalent to regret, and regret is short of the 
saving change that is spoken of in the New Testament. On 
the very same principle, we count the term reformation to 
be inadequate. We think that, in common language, a man 
would receive the appellation of a reformed man upon the 
mere change of his outward habits, without any reference to 
the change of mind and of principle which gave rise to it. Let 
the drunkard give up his excesses — let the backbiter give up 
his evil speakings — let the extortioner give up his unfair 
cnarges — and we would apply to one and all of them, upon 
the mere change of their external doings, the character ot 



vii 



reformed men. Now, it is evident that the drunkard may 
give up his drunkenness, because checked by a serious im- 
pression of the injury he has been doing to his health and 
fus circumstances. The backbiter may give up his evil 
speaking, on being made to perceive that the hateful prac- 
tice has brought upon him the contempt and alienation of 
his neighbours. The extortioner may give up his unfair 
charges, upon taking it into calculation that his business is 
likely to suffer by the desertion of his customers. Now, it 
is evident, that though in each of these cases there has been 
what the world would call reformation, there has not been 
scriptural repentance. The deficiency of this term consists 
in its having been employed to denote a mere change in the 
deeds or in the habits of the outward man ; and if employed 
as equivalent to repentance, it may delude us into the idea 
that the change by which we are made meet for a happy 
eternity is a far more slender and superficial thing than it 
really is. It is of little importance to be told that the trans- 
lator means it only in the sense of a reformed conduct, pro- 
ceeding from the influence of a new and a right principle 
within. The common meaning of the world will, as in the 
former instance, be ever and anon intruding itself, and get 
the better of all the formal cautions, and all the qualifying 
clauses of our Bible commentators. 

But, will not the original word itself throw some light upon 
this important question ? The repentance which is enjoined 
as a duty — the repentance which is unto salvation — the re- 
pentance which sinners undergo when they pass to a state 
of acceptance with God from a state of enmity against him — 
these are all one and the same thing, and are expressed by 
one and the same word in the original language of the New 
Testament. It is different from the word which expresses 
the repentance of sorrow ; and if translated according to 
the parts of which it is composed, it signifies neither more 
nor less than a change of mind. This of itself is sufficient to 
prove the inadequacy of the term reformation — a term which 
is often applied to a man upon the mere change of his con- 
duct, without ever adverting to the state of his mind, or to 
the kind of change in motive and in principle which it has 
undergone. It is true, that there can be no change in the 
conduct without some change in the inward principle. A 
reformed drunkard, before careless about health or fortune, 
may be so far changed as to become impressed with these 
considerations ; but this change is evidently short of that 
which the Bible calls repentance toward God. It is a change 
that may, and has taken place in many a mind, when there 



viii 



was no effectual sense of the God who is above us, and of 
the eternity which is before us. It is a change, brought about 
by the prospect and the calculation of worldly advantages ; 
and, in the enjoyment of these advantages, it hath its sole 
reward. But it is not done unto God^and God will not 
accept of it as done unto him. Reformation may signify 
nothing more than the mere surface-dressing of those decen- 
cies, and proprieties, and accomplishments, and civil and 
prudential duties, which, however fitted to secure a man's 
acceptance in society, may, one and all of them, consist with 
a heart alienated from God, and having every principle and 
affection of the inner man away from him. True, it is such 
a change as the man will reap benefit from, as his friends 
will rejoice in, as the world will call reformation ; but it is 
not such a change as will make him meet for heaven, and is 
deficient in its import from what our Saviour speaks of when 
he says, " I tell you nay, except ye repent, ye shall all like- 
wise perish." 

There is no single word in the English language winch 
occurs to us as fully equal to the faithful rendering of the 
term in the original. Renewedness of mind, however awk- 
ward a phrase this may be, is perhaps the most nearly ex- 
pressive of it. Certain it is, that it harmonizes with those 
other passages of the Bible where the process is described 
by which saving repentance is brought about. We read of 
being transformed by the renewing of our minds, of the re- 
newing of the Holy Ghost, of being renewed in the spirit of 
our minds. Scriptural repentance, therefore, is that deep 
and radical change whereby a soul turns from the idols of 
sin and of self unto God, and devotes every moment of the 
inner and the outer man, to the captivity of his obedience. 
This is the change which, whether it be expressed by one word 
or not in the English language, we would have you well to 
understand ; and reformation or change in the outward con- 
duct, instead of being saving and scriptural repentance, is 
what, in the language of John the Baptist, we would call a 
fruit meet for it. But if mischief is likely to arise, from the 
want of an adequate word in our language, to that repen- 
tance which is unto salvation, there is one effectual preserva- 
tive against it — a firm and consistent exhibition of the whole 
counsel and revelation of God. A man who is well read in 
his New Testament, and reads it with docility, will dismiss 
all his meagre conceptions of repentance, when he comes to 
the following statements : — " Except a man be born again, 
he cannot see the kingdom of God." "Except ye be con- 
yerted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into 



IX 



the kingdom of heaven." " If any man have not the Spirit 
of Christ, he is none of his." "The carnal mind is enmity 
against God ; and if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; but 
if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, 
ye shall live." " By the washing of regeneration ye are 
saved." " Be not then conformed to this world, but be ye 
transformed by the renewing of your minds." Such are the 
terms employed to describe the process by which the soul of 
man is renewed unto repentance ; and, with your hearts 
familiarized to the mighty import of these terms, you will 
carry with you an effectual guarantee against those false 
and flimsy impressions, which are so current in the world, 
about the preparation of a sinner for eternity. 

Another delusion which we shall endeavour to expose, is 
a very mischievous application of the parable of the labourers 
in the vineyard, contained in the twentieth chapter of the 
Gospel by Matthew. The interpretation of this parable, 
the mischief and delusion of which we shall endeavour to lay 
open, is, that it relates to the call of individuals, and to the 
different periods in the age of each individual at which this- 
call is accepted by them. We almost know nothing more 
familiar to us, both in the works of authors, and in the con- 
versation of private Christians, than when the repentance 
of an aged man is the topic, it is represented as a case of 
repentance at the eleventh hour of the day. We are far 
from disputing the possibility of such a repentance, nor. 
should those who address the message of the gospel ever be 
restrained from the utterance of the free call of the gospel, in 
the hearing of the oldest and most inveterate sinner whom 
they may meet with. But what we contend for, is, that this is 
not the drift of the parable. The parable relates to the call 
of nations, and to the different periods in the age of the world 
at which this call was addressed to each of them, and not, 
as we have already observed, to the call of individuals, and 
to the different periods in the age of each individual at which 
this call is accepted by them.* It is not true that the labour- 

* To render our argument more intelligible, we shall briefly state 
■what we conceive to be the true explanation of the parable. In the 
verses preceding the parable, Peter had stated the whole amount of 
the surrender that he and his fellow-disciples had made by the act of 
following after Jesus; and it is evident, that they all looked forward to 
some great and temporal remuneration — some share in the glories of 
the Israelitish monarchy — some place of splendour or distinction under 
that new government, which they imagined was to be set up in the 
world ; and they never conceived any thing else, than that in this al- 
tered state of things, the people of their own country were to be raised 
to high pre-eminence among the nations which had oppressed and de- 
graded them. It was in the face of this expectation, that our Saviour 



X 

«rs who began to work in the vineyard on the first hour of 
the day, .denote these Christians who began to remember 
their Creator, and to render the obedience of the faith unto 
his Gospel with their first and earliest education. It is not 
true, that they who entered into this service on the third 
hour of the day, denote those Christians, who after a boyhood 
of thoughtless unconcern about the things of eternity, are 
arrested in the season of youth, by a visitation of serious- 
ness, and betake themselves to the faith and the following 
of the Saviour who died for them. It is not true, that they 
who were hired on the sixth and ninth hours, denote those 
Christians, who, after having spent the prime of their youth- 
ful vigour in alienation from G od, and perhaps run out some 
mad career of guilt and profligacy, put on their Christianity 
along with the decencies of their sober and established man- 
uttered a sentence, which we meet oftener than once among his re- 
corded sayings in the New Testament, "Many that are first shall be 
last, and the last shall be first." The Israelites, whom God distin- 
guished at an early period of the world, by a revelation of himself, 
were first invited in the doing of his wilt, (which is fitly enough repre- 
sented by working in his vineyard,) to the possession of his favour, 
and the enjoyment of his rewards. This offer to work in thai peculiar 
vineyard where God assigned to them a performance, and bestowed on 
them a recompense, was made to Abraham and to his descendants at 
a very early period in history ; and a succession of prophets and right- 
eous men were sent to renew the offer, and the communications from 
God to the world followed the stream of ages, down to the time of the 
utterance of this parable. And a few years afterwards, the same 
offers, and the same invitations, were addressed to another people; 
and at this late period, at this eleventh hour, the men of those coun- 
tries which had never before been visited by any authoritative call from 
heaven, had this call lifted up in their hearing, and many Gentiles ac- 
cepted that everlasting life, of which the Jews counted themselves un- 
worthy. And as to the people of Israel, who valued themselves so 
much on their privileges — who had turned ail the revelations, by which 
their ancestors had been honoured, into a matter of distinction and of 
vain security — who had ever been in the habit of eyeing the profane 
Gentiles with all that contempt which is laid upon outcasts, this para- 
ble received its fulfilment at the time w 7 hen these Gentiles, by their 
acceptance of the Saviour, were exalted to an equal place among the 
chiefest favourites of God ; and these Jews, by their refusal of him, had 
their name rooted out from among the nations — and those first and fore- 
most in all the privileges of religion, are now become the last. Now 
this we conceive to be The real design of the parable. It was designed 
to reconcile the minds of the disciples to that part of the economy of 
God, which was most offensive to their hopes and to their prejudices. 
It asserted the sovereignty of the Supreme Being in the work of dis- 
pensing his calls and his favours among the people whom he had 
formed. It furnished a most decisive and silencing reproof to the Jews, 
Who were filled with envy against the Gentiles ; and who, even those 
of them that embraced the Christian profession, made an obstinate 
struggle against the admission of those Gentiles into the church on 
equal terms with themselves. 



xi 



hood. Neither is it true, that the labourers of the eleventh 
hour, the men who had stood all day idle, represent those 
aged converts who have put off their repentance to the last — 
those men who have renounced the world when they could 
not help it — those men who have put on Christianity, but 
not till they had put on their wrinkles — those men who have 
run the varied stages of depravity, from the frivolous uncon- 
cern of a boy, and the appalling enormities of misled and 
misguided youth, and the deep and determined worldliness 
of middle age, and the clinging avarice of him, who, while 
with slow and tottering footsteps he descends the hill of life, 
has a heart more obstinately set than ever on all its interests, 
and all its sordid accumulations, but who, when death taps 
at the door, awakes from his dream, and thinks it now time 
to shake away his idolatrous affections from the mammon of 
unrighteousness. 

Such are the men who, after having taken their full swing 
of all that the world could offer, and of ail that they could 
enjoy of it, defer the whole work of preparation for eternity 
to old age, and for the hire of the labourers of the eleventh 
hour, do all that they can in the way of sighs, and sorrows, 
and expiations of penitential acknowledgment. What ! 
will we offer to liken such men to those who sought the 
Lord early, and who found him ? Will we say that he who 
repents when old, is at all to be compared to him, who bore 
the whole heat and burden of a life devoted throughout all 
its stages to the glory and the remembrance of the Creator ? 
Who, from a child, trembled at the word of the Lord, and 
aspired after a conformity to all his ways ? Who, when a 
young man, fulfilled that most appropriate injunction of the 
apostle, "Be thou strong?" Who fought it with manly de- 
termination against all the enemies of principle by which he 
was surrounded, and spurned the enticements of vicious ac- 
quaintances away from him ; and nobly stood it out, even 
though unsupported and alone, against the unhallowed con- 
tempt of a whole multitude of scorners ; and with intrepid 
defiance to all the assaults of ridicule, maintained a firmness, 
which no wile could seduce from the posts of vigilance ; and 
cleared his unfaltering way through all the allurements of a 
perverse and crooked generation. Who, even in the midst 
of a most withering atmosphere on every side of him, kept 
all his purposes unbroken, and all his delicacies untainted. 
Who, with the rigour of self-command, combined the soften- 
ing lustre which a pure and amiable modesty sheds over the 
moral complexion of him who abhors that which is evil, and 
cleaves to that which is good, with all the energy of a holy 



xii 



•determination. Can that be a true interpretation, which 
levels this youth of promise and of accomplishment, with his 
equal in years, who is now prosecuting every guilty indul- 
gence, and crowns the audacity of his rebellion by the mad 
presumption, that ere he dies, he shall be able to propitiate 
"that God, on the authority of all whose calls, and all whose 
remonstrances, he is now trampling ? Or follow each of them 
to the evening of their earthly prilgrimage — will you say 
that the penitent of the eleventh hour, is at all to be likened 
to him who has given the whole of his existence to the work 
and the labour of Christianity ? to him who, after a morning 
of life adorned with all the gracefulness we have attempted 
to describe, sustains through the whole of his subsequent 
history such a high and ever-brightening example, that his 
path is like the shining light, which shineth more and more 
unto the perfect day ; and every year he lives, the graces of 
an advancing sanctification form into a richer assemblage of 
all that is pure, and lovely, and honorable, and of good re- 
port ; and when old age comes, it brings none of the turbu- 
lence or alarm of an unfinished preparation along with it — 
but he meets death with the quiet assurance of a man who 
is in readiness, and hails his message as a friendly intima- 
tion ; and as he lived in the splendour of ever-increasing 
acquirements, so he dies in all the radiance of anticipated 

g loi T\ 

This interpretation of the parable cannot be sustained ; 
and we think, that, out of its own mouth, a condemnation 
may be stamped upon it. Mark this peculiarity. The la- 
bourers of the eleventh hour are not men who got the offer 
before, but men who for the first time received a call to 
work in the vineyard ; and they may, therefore, well repre- 
sent the people of a country, who, for the first time, received 
the overtures of the Gospel. The answer they gave to the 
question, Why stand you so long idle ? was, that no man 
had hired them. We do not read of any of the labourers of 
the third, or sixth, or ninth hours, refusing the call at these 
times, and afterward rendering a compliance with the even- 
ing call, and getting the penny for which they declined the 
offer of working several hours, but afterwards agreed, when 
the proposal was made, that they should work one hour 
only. They had a very good answer to give, in excuse for 
their idleness. They never had been called before. And 
the oldest men of a Pagan country have the very same 
answer to give, on the first arrival of Christian missionaries 
amongst them. But we have no part nor lot in this parable. 
We have it not in our power to offer any such apology. 



xiii 



There is not one of us who can excuse the impenitency of 
the past, on the plea that no man has called us. This is a 
call that has been sounded in our ears, from our very infancy. 
Every time we have seen a bible on our shelves, we have 
had a call. Every time we have heard a minister in the 
pulpit, we have had a call. Every time we have heard the 
generous invitation, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye 
unto the waters, 17 we have had a solemn, and what ought to 
have been a most impressive, call. Every time a parent has 
plied us with a good advice, or a neighbour come forward with 
a friendly persuasion, we have had a call. Every time that 
the Sabbath bell has rung for us to the house of God, we 
have had a call. These are all so many distinct and repeated 
calls. These are past events in our life, which rise in judg- 
ment against us, and remind us, with a justice of argument 
that there is no evading, that we have no right whatever to 
the privileges of the eleventh hour. 

This, then, is the train to which we feel ourselves directed 
by this parable. The mischievous interpretation which has 
been put upon it, has wakened up our. alarms, and set us to 
look at the delusion which it fosters, and, if possible, to drag 
out to the light of day, the fallacy which lies in it. We 
should like to reduce every man to the feeling of the alter- 
native of repentance now, or repentance never. We should 
like to flash it upon your convictions, that, by putting the 
call away from you now, you put your eternity away from 
you. We should like to expose the whole amount of that 
accursed infatuation which lies in delay. We should like 
to arouse every soul out of its lethargies, and giving no quar- 
ter to the plea of a little more sleep, and a little more slum- 
ber, we should like you to feel as if the whole of your future 
destiny hinged on the very first movement to which you 
turned yourselves. 

The work of repentance must have a beginning ; and we 
should like you to know, that, if not begun to-day, the 
chance will be less of its being begun to-morrow. And if 
the greater chance has failed, what hope can we build upon 
the smaller? — and a chance too that is always getting 
smaller. Each day, as it revolves over the sinner's head, 
finds him a harder, and a more obstinate, and a more help- 
lessly enslaved sinner than before. It was this considera- 
tion which gave Richard Baxter such earnestness and such 
urgency in his "Call." He knew that the barrier in the 
way of the sinner's return, was strengthened by every act 
of resistance to the call which urges it. That the refusal of 
this moment hardened the man against the next attack of 



xiv 



a Gospel argument that is brought to bear upon him. That 
if he attempted you now, and he failed, when he came back 
upon you, he would find himself working on a more obstinate 
and uncomplying subject than ever. And therefore it is, that 
he ever feels as if the present were his only opportunity. 
That he is now upon his vantage ground, and he gives every 
energy of his soul to the great point of making the most of 
it. He will put up with none of your evasions. He will 
consent to none of your postponements. He will pay re- 
spect to none of your more convenient seasons. He tells you, 
that the matter with which he is charged, has all the urgency 
of a matter in hand. He speaks to you with as much earn- 
estness as if he knew that you were going to step into eter- 
nity in half an hour. He delivers his message with as 
much solemnity as if he knew that this was your last meeting 
on earth, and that you were never to see each other till you 
stood together at the judgment seat. He knew that some 
mighty change must take place in you, ere you be fit for 
entering into the presence of God; and that the time in 
which, on every plea of duty and of interest, you should be- 
stir yourselves to secure this, is the present time. This is 
the distinct point he assigns to himself ; and the whole drift 
of his argument, is to urge an instantaneous choice of the 
better part, by telling you how you multiply every day the 
obstacles to your future repentance, if you begin not the 
work of repentance now. 

Before bringing our Essay to a close, we shall make some 
observations on the mistakes concerning repentance which 
we have endeavoured to expose, and adduce some arguments 
for urging on the consciences of our readers the necessity and 
importance of immediate repentance. 

1. The work of repentance is a work which must be done 
ere we die ; for, unless we repent, we shall all likewise perish- 
Now, the easier this work is in our conception, we will think it 
the less necessary to enter upon it immediately. We will look 
upon it as a work that may be done at any time, and let us, 
therefore, put it olf a little longer, and a little longer. We will 
perhaps look forward to that retirement from the world and 
its temptations which we figure old age to bring along with it, 
and falling in with the too common idea, that the evening or 
life is the appropriate season of preparation for another 
world, we will think that the author is bearing too closely 
and too urgently upon us, when, in the language of the Bi- 
ble, he speaks of " to-day," while it is called to-day, and will 
let us off with no other repentance than repentance " now," — 
seeing that now only is the accepted time, and now only the 



XV 



day of salvation, which he has a warrant to proclaim to us. 
This dilatory way of it is very much favoured by the mistaken 
and very defective view of repentance which we have at- 
tempted to expose. We have somehow or other got into the 
delusion, that repentance is sorrow, and little else ; and were 
we called to fix upon the scene where this sorrow is likely 
to be felt in the degree that is deepest and most overwhelm- 
ing, we would point to the chamber of the dying man. It 
is awful to think that, generally speaking, this repentance 
of mere sorrow is the only repentance of a deathbed. Yes ! 
we will meet with sensibility deep enough and painful enough 
there — with regret in all its bitterness — with terror muster- 
ing up its images of despair, and dwelling upon them in all 
the gloom of an affrighted imagination ; and this is mistaken, 
not merely for the drapery of repentance, but for the very 
substance of it. We look forward, and we count upon this — 
that the sins of a life are to be expunged by the sighing and 
the sorrowing of the last days of it. We should give up this 
wretchedly superficial notion of repentance, and cease, from 
this moment, to be led astray by it. The mind may sorrow 
over its corruptions at the very time that it is under the 
power of them. To grieve because we are under the cap- 
tivity of sin is one thing — to be released from that captivity 
is another. A man may weep most bitterly over the perver- 
sities of his moral constitution ; but to change that constitu- 
tion is a different affair. Now, this is the mighty work of 
repentance. He who has undergone it is no longer the ser- 
vant of sin. He dies unto sin, he lives unto God. A sense 
of the authority of God is ever present with him, to wield the 
ascendency of a great master-principle over all his move- 
ments — to call forth every purpose, and to carry it forward, 
through all the opposition of sin and of Satan, into accomplish- 
ment. This is the grand revolution in the state of the mind 
which repentance brings along with it. To grieve because 
this work is not done, is a very different thing from the do- 
ing of it. A deathbed is the very best scene for acting the 
first j but it is the very worst for acting the second. The 
repentance of Judas has often been acted there. We ought 
to think of the work in all its magnitude, and not to put it 
off to that awful period when the soul is crowded with other 
things, and has to maintain its weary struggle with the pains 
and the distresses, and the shiverings, and the breathless 
agonies of a deathbed. 

2. There are two views that may be taken of the way in 
which repentance is brought about, and whichever of them 
is adopted, delay carries along with it the saddest infatua- 



xvi 



tion. It may be looked upon as a step taken by man as a 
voluntary agent, and we would ask you, upon your experi- 
ence of the powers and the performances of humanity, if a, 
deathbed is the time for taking such a step ? Is this a time 
for a voluntary being exercising a vigorous control over his 
own movements ? When racked with pain, and borne down 
by the pressure of a sore and overwhelming calamity? 
Surely the greater the work of repentance is, the more ease, 
the more time, the more freedom from suffering, is necessary 
for carrying it on ; and, therefore, addressing you as volun- 
tary beings, as beings who will and who do, we call upon 
you to seek God early that you may find him — to haste, and 
make no delay in keeping his commandments. The other 
view is, that repentance is not a self-originating work in man, 
but the work of the Holy Spirit in him as the subject of its 
influences. This view is not opposite to the. former. It is. 
true that man wills and does at every step in the business of 
his salvation ; and it is as true that God works in him so to 
will and to do. Take this last view of it, then. Look on 
repentance as the work of God's Spirit in the soul of man, 
and we are furnished with a more impressive argument than 
ever, and set on higher vantage for urging you to stir your- 
selves, and set about it immediately. What is it that you 
propose ? To keep by your present habits, and your pres- 
ent indulgences — and build yourselves up all the while in 
the confidence that the Spirit will interpose with his mighty 
power of conversion upon you, at the very point of time that 
you have fixed upon as convenient and agreeable? And how 
do you conciliate the Spirit's answer to your call then ? Why, 
by doing all you can to grieve, and to quench, and to pro- 
voke him to abandon you now. Do you feel a motion to- 
wards repentance at this moment ? If you keep it alive, and 
act upon it, good and well. But if you smother and suppress 
this motion, you resist the Spirit — you stifle his movements 
within you ; it is what the impenitent do day after day, and 
year after year — and is this the way for securing the influ- 
ences of the Spirit at the time that you would like them best ? 
When you are done with the world, and are looking forward 
to eternity because you cannot help it ? God says, " My 
Spirit will not always strive with the children of men." A 
good and a free Spirit he undoubtedly is, and, as a proof of 
it, he is now saying, "Let whosoever will, come and drink 
of the water of life freely." He says so now, but we do not 
promise that he will say so with effect upon your deathbeds, 
if you refuse him now. You look forward then for a pow- 
erful work of conversion being done upon you, and yet you 



xvii 



employ yourselves all your life long in raising and multiply- 
ing obstacles against it. You count upon a miracle of grace 
before you die, and the way you take to make yourselves 
sure of it, is to grieve and offend him while you live, who 
alone can perform the miracle. O what cruel deceits will 
sin land us in ! and how artfully it pleads for a " little more 
sleep, and a little more slumber ; a little more folding of the 
hands to sleep." We should hold out no longer, nor make 
not such an abuse of the forbearance of God : we will treas- 
ure up wrath against the day of wrath if we do so. The 
genuine effect of his goodness is to lead to repentance ; let 
not its effect upon us be to harden and encourage ourselves 
in the ways of sin. We should cry now for the clean heart 
and the right spirit ; and such is the exceeding freeness of 
the Spirit of God, that we will be listened to. If we put off 
the cry till then, the same God may laugh at our calamity, 
and mock when our fear cometh. 

3. Our next argument for immediate repentance is, that 
we cannot bring forward, at any future period of your his- 
tory, any considerations of a more prevailing or more pow- 
erfully moving influence than those we may bring forward at 
this moment. We can tell you now of the terrors of the 
Lord. We can tell you now of the solemn mandates which 
have issued from his throne — and the authority of which is 
upon one and all of you. We can tell you now, that though, 
in this dead and darkened world, sin appears but a very tri- 
vial affair — for every body sins, and it is shielded from execra- 
tion by the universal countenance of an entire species lying 
in wickedness — yet it holds true of God, what is so emphati- 
cally said of him, that he cannot be mocked, nor will he en- 
dure it that you should riot in the impunity of your wilful 
resistance to him and to his warnings. We can tell you now, 
that he is a God of vengeance ; and though, for a season, he 
is keeping back all the thunder of it from a world that he 
would like to reclaim unto himself, yet, if you put all his ex- 
postulations away from you, and will not be reclaimed, these 
thunders will be let loose upon you, and they will fall on 
your guilty heads, armed with tenfold energy, because you 
have not only defied his threats, but turned your back on his 
offers of reconciliation. These are the arguments by which 
we would try to open our way to your consciences, and to 
awaken up your fears, and to put the inspiring activity of 
hope into your bosoms, by laying before you those invita- 
tions which are addressed to the sinner, through the peace- 
speaking blood of Jesus, and, in the name of a beseeching 
God, to win your acceptance of them. At no future perioa 
2* 



xviii 



can we address arguments more powerful and more affecting 
than these. If these argument do not prevail upon you, we 
know of none others by which a victory over the stubborn 
and uncomplying will can be accomplished, or by which we 
can ever hope to beat in that sullen front of resistance where- 
with you now so impregnably withstand us. We feel that, 
if any stout-hearted sinner shall rise from the perusal of these 
Treatises with an unawakened conscience, and give himself 
to an act of wilful disobedience, we feel as if, in reference to 
him, we had made our last discharge, and it fell powerless 
as water spilt on the ground, that cannot be gathered up 
again. We would not cease to ply him with our aguments, 
and tell him, to the hour of death, of the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, who is not willing that any should perish, but 
that all should turn to him, and live. And if in future life 
we should meet him at the eleventh hour of his dark and de- 
ceitful day — a hoary sinner, sinking under the decrepitude 
of age, and bending on the side of the grave that is open to 
receive him — even then we would testify the exceeding fine- 
ness of the grace of God, and implore his acceptance of iU 
But how could it be away from our minds that he is not one 
of the evening labourers of the parable ? We had met with 
him at former periods of his existence, and the offer we make 
him now we made him then, and he did what the labourers 
of the third, and sixth, and ninth hours of the parable did 
not do — he rejected our call to hire him into the vineyard ; 
and this heartless recollection, if it did not take all our en- 
ergy away from us, would leave us little else than the energy 
of despair. And therefore it is, that we speak to you now 
as if this was our last hold of you. We feel as if on your 
present purpose hung all the preparations of your future 
life, and all the rewards or all the horrors of your coming 
eternity. We will not let you off with any other repentance 
than repentance now ; and if this be refused now, we cannot, 
with our eyes open to the consideration we have now urged, 
that the instrument we make to bear upon you afterwards 
is not more powerful than we are wielding now, coupled 
with another consideration which we shall insist upon, that 
the subject on which the instrument worketh, even the heart 
of man, gathers, by every act of resistance, a more uncom- 
plying obstinacy than before ; we cannot, with these two 
thoughts in our mind, look forward to your future history, 
without seeing spread over the whole path of it the iron of a 
harder impenitency — the sullen gloom of a deeper and more 
determined alienation. 



xix 



4. Another argument, therefore, for immediate repentance 
is, that the mind which resists a present call or a present 
reproof, undergoes a progressive hardening towards all those 
considerations which arm the call of repentance with all its 
energy. It is not enough to say, that the instrument by 
which repentance is brought about, is not more powerful to- 
morrow than it is to-day ; it lends a most tremendous weight 
to the argument, to say further that the subject on which 
this instrument is putting forth its efficiency, will oppose a 
firmer resistance to-morrow than it does to day. It is this 
which gives a significancy so powerful to the call of " To-day 
while it is to-day, harden not your hearts and to the ad- 
monition of " Knowest thou not, O man, that the goodness 
of God leadeth thee to repentance ; but after, thy hardness 
and impenitent heart treasurest up wrath against the day of 
wrath and revelation of the righteous judgments of God?" 
It is not said, either in the one or in the other of these pas- 
sages, that, by the present refusal, you cut yourself off from 
a future invitation. The invitation may be sounded in your 
hearing to the last half hour of your earthly existence, en- 
graved in all those characters of free and gratuitous kindness 
which mark the beneficent religion of the New Testament. 
But the present refusal hardens you against the power and 
tenderness of the future invitation. This is the fact in human 
nature to which these passages seem to point, and it is the 
fact through which the argument for immediate repentance 
receives such powerful aid from the wisdom of experience. 
It is this which forms the most impressive proof of the ne- 
cessity of plying the young with all the weight and all the 
tenderness of earnest admonition, that the now susceptible 
mind might not turn into a substance harder and more un- 
complying than the rock which is broken in pieces by the 
powerful application of the han^mer of the word of God. 

The metal of the human soul, so to speak, is like some 
material substances. If the force you lay upon it do not 
break it, or dissolve it, it will beat it into hardness. If the 
moral argument by which it is plied now do not so soften 
the mind as to carry and to overpower its purposes, then, on 
another day, the argument may be put forth in terms as im- 
pressive — but it falls on a harder mind, and, therefore, with 
a more slender efficiency. If the threat, that ye who persist 
in sin, shall have to dwell with the devouring fire, and to lie 
down amid everlasting burnings, do not alarm you out of 
your iniquities from this very moment, then he same threat 
may be again cast out, and the same appalling circumstan- 
ces of terror be thrown around it, but it is all discharged oa 



XX 



a soul hardened by its inurement to the thunder of denuncia- 
tions already uttered, and the urgency of menacing threaten- 
ings already poured forth without fruit and without effi- 
cacy. If the voice of a beseeching God do not win upon you 
now, and charm you out of your rebellion against him, by 
the persuasive energy of kindness, then let that voice be 
lifted in your hearing on some future day, and though armed 
with all the power of tenderness it ever had, how shall it 
£nd its entrance into a heart sheathed by the operation of 
habit, that universal law, in more impenetrable obstinacy ? 
If, with the earliest dawn of your understanding, you have 
been offered the hire of the morning labourer and have re- 
fused it, then the parable does not say that you are the per- 
son who at the third, or sixth, or ninth, or eleventh hour, will 
get the offer repeated to you. It is true, that the offer is 
unto all and upon all who are within reach of the hearing of 
it. But there is all the difference in the world between the 
impression of a new offer, and of an offer that has already 
been often heard and as often rejected — an offer which comes 
upon you with all the familiarity of a well known sound that 
you have already learned how to dispose of, and how to shut 
your every feeling against the power of its gracious invita- 
tions — an offer which, if discarded from your hearts at the 
present moment, may come back upon you, but which will 
nave to maintain a more unequal contest than before, with 
an impenitency ever strengthening, and ever gathering new 
hardness from each successive act of resistance. And thus 
it is that the point for which we are contending, is, not to 
carry you at some future period of your lives, but to carry 
you at this moment. It is to work in you the instantaneous 
purpose of a firm and a vigorously sustained repentance ; it 
is to put into you all the freshness of an immediate resolu- 
tion, and to stir you up to all the readiness of an immediate 
accomplishment — it is to give direction to the very first foot- 
step you are now to take, and lead you to take it as the com- 
mencement of that holy career, in which all old things are 
done away, and all things become new— -it is to press it upon 
you, that the state of the alternative, at this moment, is 
" now or never" — it is to prove how fearful the odds are 
against you, if now you suffer the call of repentance to light 
upon your consciences, and still keep by your determined 
posture of careless, and thoughtless, and thankless uncon- 
cern about God. You have resisted to-day, and by that resis- 
tance you have acquired a firmer metal of resistance against 
the power of every future warning that may be brought 
to bear upon you. You have stood your ground against the 



XXi 



urgency of the most earnest admonitions, and against the 
dreadfulness of the most terrifying menaces. On that ground 
you have fixed yourself more immovably than before ; and 
though on some future day the same spiritual thunder be 
made to play around you, it will not snake you out of the 
obstinacy of your determined rebellion. 

It is the universal law of habit, that the feelings are always 
getting more faintly and feebly impressed by every repetition 
of the cause which excited them, and that the mind is always 
getting stronger in its active resistance to the impulse of 
these feelings, by every new deed of resistance which it per- 
forms ; and thus it is, that if you refuse us now, we have 
no other prospect before us than that your course is every day 
getting more desperate and more irrecoverable, your souls 
are getting more hardened, the Spirit is getting more pro^ 
voked to abandon those who have so long persisted in their 
opposition to his movements. God, who says that his Spirit 
will not always strive with the children of men, is getting 
more offended. The tyranny of habit is getting every day a 
firmer ascendancy over you; Satan is getting you more 
helplessly involved among his wiles and his entanglements ; 
the world, with all the inveteracy of those desires which are 
opposite to the will of the Father, is more and more lording 
it over your every affection. And what, we would ask, 
what is the scene in which you are now purposing to contest 
it, with all this mighty force of opposition you are now so 
busy in raising up against you ? What is the field of com- 
bat to which you are now looking forward, as the place 
where you are to accomplish a victory over all those formi- 
dable enemies whom you are at present arming with such 
a weight of hostility, as, we say, within a single hair- 
breadth of certainty, you will find to be irresistible ? O the 
bigness of such a misleading infatuation ! The proposed 
scene in which this battle for eternity is to be fought, and 
this victory for the crown of glory to be won, is a deathbed. 
It is when the last messenger stands by the couch of the 
dying man, and shakes at him the terrors of his grisly coun- 
tenance, that the poor child of infatuation thinks he is to 
struggle and prevail against all his enemies ; against the 
unrelenting tyranny of habit — against the obstinacy of his 
own heart, which he is now doing so much to harden — 
against the Spirit of God who perhaps long ere now has pro- 
nounced the doom upon him, "He will take his own way, 
and walk in his own counsel ; I shall cease from striving, 
and let him alone — against Satan, to whom every day of 
his life he has given some fresh advantage over him, and 



XXII 



who will not be willing to lose the victim on whom he has 
practised so many wiles, and plied with success so many 
delusions. And such are the enemies whom you, who 
wretchedly calculate on the repentance of the eleventh hour, 
are every day mustering up in greater force and formida- 
bleness against you ; and how can we think of letting you 
go, with any other repentance than the repentance of the 
precious moment that is now passing over you, when we 
look forward to the horrors of that impressive scene, on 
winch you propose to win the prize of immortality, and to 
contest it singlehanded and alone, with all the weight of op- 
position which you have accumulated against yourselves — a 
deathbed — a languid, breathless, tossing, and agitated death- 
bed ; that scene of feebleness, when the poor man cannot 
help himself to a single mouthful — when he must have at- 
tendants to sit around him, and watch his every wish, and 
interpret his every signal, and turn him to every pc 
where he may find a moment's ease, and wipe away the 
cold sweat that is running over him — and ply him with cor- 
dials for thirst, and sickness, and insufferable languor. And 
this is the time, when occupied with such feelings, and beset 
with such agonies as these, you propose to crowd within the 
compass of a few wretched days, the work of winding up 
the concerns of a neglected eternity ! 

5. But it may be said, if repentance be what you represent 
it, a thing of such mighty import, and such impracticable 
jjerformance, as a change of mind, in what rational way can 
it be made the subject of a precept or an injunction ? you 
would not call ujdoii the Ethiopian to change his skin — you 
would not call upon the leopard to change his spots ; and 
yet you call upon us to change our minds. You say, " Re- 
pent ;" and that too in the face of the undeniable doctrine, 
that man is without strength for the achievement of so mighty 
an enterprise. Can you tell us any plain and practicable 
thing that you would have us to perform, and that we may 
perform to help on this business ? This is the very question 
with which the hearers of John the Baptist came back upon 
him, after he had told them in general terms to repent, and 
to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. He may not have 
resolved the difficulty, but he pointed the expectation of Ins 
countrymen to a greater than he for the solution of it. Isow 
that Teacher has already come, and we live under the full 
and the finished splendour of his revelation. O that the great- 
ness and difficulty of the work of repentance, had the effect 
of shutting you up into the faith of Christ ! Repentance is 
not a paltry, superficial reformation. It reaches deeD into 



xxiii 

the inner man, but not too deep for the searching influences 
of that Spirit which is at his giving, and which worketh 
mightily in the hearts of believers. You should go then un- 
der a sense of your difficulty to Him. Seek to be rooted in 
the Saviour, that you may be nourished out of his fulness, 
and strengthened by his might. The simple cry for a clean 
heart, and a right spirit, which is raised from the mouth of 
a believer, brings down an answer from on high, which ex- 
plains all the difficulty and overcomes it. And if what we 
have said of the extent and magnitude of repentance, should 
have the effect to give a deeper feeling than before of the 
wants under which you labour ; and shall dispose you to 
seek after a closer and more habitual union with Him who 
alone can supply them, then will our call to repent have in - 
deed fulfilled upon you the appointed end of a preparation 
for the Saviour. But recollect, now is your time, and now 
is your opportunity, for entering on the road of preparation 
that leads to heaven. We charge you to enter this road at 
this moment, as you value your deliverance from hell, and 
your possession of that blissful place where you shall be for- 
ever with the Lord — we charge you not to parry and to de- 
lay this matter, no not for a single hour — we call on you by 
all that is great in eternity — by all that is terrifying in its 
horrors — by all that is alluring in its rewards — by all that is 
binding in the authority of God — by all that is condemning 
in the severity of his violated law, and by all that can aggra- 
vate this condemnation in the insulting contempt of his re- 
jected gospel ; — we call on you by one and all of these con- 
siderations, not to hesitate but to flee — not to purpose a re- 
turn for to-morrow, but to make an actual return this very 
day — to put a decisive end to every plan of wickedness on 
which you may have entered — to cease your hands from all 
that is forbidden — to turn them to all that is required — to 
betake yourselves to the appointed Mediator, and receive 
through him, by the prayer of faith, such constant supplies 
of the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy 
Ghost, that, from this moment, you may be carried forward 
from one degree of grace unto another, and from a life de- 
voted to God here, to the elevation of a triumphant, and th.9 
joys of a blissful eternity hereafter. 

T. C. 

St. Andrew's, October, 1825, 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

The Advertisement, J 27 

The Preface, 29 

The Text Opened, 41 

Doct. 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that wicked 

men must turn or die — Proved, . 44 

God will not be so unmerciful as to damn us — Answered, 53 

The Use, ^ • • 57 

Who are wicked men, and what conversion is ; and how wo 

may know whether we are wicked or converted, . 59 
Applied, ......... 63 

Doct. 2. It is the promise of God, that the wicked shall live, 
if they will but turn ; unfeignedly and thoroughly turn- 
Proved, ......... 66 

Doct. 3. God taketh pleasure in men's conversion and sal- 
vation, but not in their death or damnation. He had 
rather they would turn and live, than go on and die- 
Expounded — Proved, 72 

Doct. 4. The Lord hath confirmed it to us by his oath, 
That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 
but that he turn and live ; that he may leave man no 

pretence to doubt it, 79 

I/SE. Who is it then that takes pleasure in men's sin and 

death? — Not God, nor ministers, nor any good men, . ib« 
Doct. 5. So earnest is God for the conversion of sinners, 
that he doubleth his commands and exhortations with 
vehemency, " Turn ye, Turn ye," — Applied, . . 8& 
Some motives to obey God's calls, and turn. 
Doct. 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the case with 
unconverted sinners, and to ask them, Why they will 
die? . . . . . .... 97 

A strange disputation: — 1. For the question. 2. The 
disputants. 

Wicked men will die, or destroy themselves. 

Use. The sinner's case is certainly unreasonable! 3 * 101 



26 CONTENTS. 

FASE. 



Their seeming reasons confuted, 103 

Quest. Why are men so unreasonable, and loath to turn, 

and will destroy themselves ? — Answered, . . 115 
Doct. 7. If after all this, men will not turn, it is not God's 
fault that they are condemned, but their own, even their 
own wilfulness. They die because they will ; that is, 

because they will not turn, 118 

CJse 1. How unfit the wicked are to charge God with their 
damnation. It is not because God is unmerciful, but 
because they are cruel and merciless to themselves, 124 
Object. We cannot convert ourselves, nor have we Free- 
will — Answered, (and in Preface,) .... 128 
Use 2. The subtlety of Satan, the deceitfulness of sin, and 2 

the folly of sinners manifested, .... 129 
Use 3. No wonder if the wicked would hinder the conver- 
sion and salvation of others, f ib. 

Use 4. Man is the greatest enemy to himself) • . ib. 
Man's destruction is of himself— Proved, . . . 131 
The heinous aggravations of self-destroying, . • . 137 

The concluding exhortation, 138 

Ten Directions for those that had rather turn than die, . 141 

Now or Never, 149 

Fifty Reasons, 1B5 

Extracts from Baxter's Dying Thoughts, . • 2il 



THE GREAT SUCCESS WHICH ATTENDED THE 
CALL WHEN FIRST PUBLISHED. 



It may be proper to prefix an account of this book given by Mr. 
Baxter himself, which was found in his study, after nis death, in 
his own words : 

f I published a short treatise on conversion, entitled, A Call to 
the Unconverted. The occasion of this was my converse with 
Bishop Usher while I was at London ; who, approving my method 
and directions for Peace of Conscience, was importunate with, 
me to write directions suited to the various states of Christians, 
and also against particular sins. I reverenced the man, but dis- 
regarded these persuasions, supposing I could do nothing but what 
is done better already : but when he was dead, his words went 
deeper to my mind, and I purposed to obey his counsel ; yet, so 
as that to the first sort of men, the ungodly, I thought vehement 
persuasions meeter than directions only: and so for such I pub- 
lished this little book, which God hath blessed with unexpected 
success, beyond all the rest that I have written, except The 
Saint's Rest. In a little more than a year, there were about 
twenty thousand of them printed by my own consent, and about 
ten thousand since, beside many thousands by stolen impressions, 
which poor men stole for lucre's sake. Through God's mercy I 
have information of almost whole households converted by this 
small book which I set so light by : and, as if all this in England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, were not mercy enough to me, God, since 
I was silenced, hath sent it over in his message to many beyond 
the seas ; for when Mr. Elliot had printed all the Bible in the 
Indian language, he next translated this my Call to the Uncon- 
verted, as he wrote to us here. And yet God would make some 
farther use of it ; for Mr. Stoop, the pastor of the French Church 
in London, being driven hence by the displeasure of his superiors, 
was pleased to translate it into French. I hope it will not be un- 
profitable there ; nor in Germany, where if is printed in Dutch.' 

It may be proper also to mention Dr. Bates's account of the 
author, and of this useful treatise. In his sermon at Mr. Bax- 
ter's funeral, he thus says: 'His books of practical divinity have 
been effectual for more conversions of sinners to God than any 

Erinted in our time ; and while the church remains on earth, will 
e of continual efficacy to recover lost souls. There is a vigor- 
ous pulse in them, that keeps the reader awake and attentive. 
His Call to the Unconverted how small in bulk, but how powerful 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



in virtue ! Truth speaks in it with that authority and efficac 
that it makes the reader to lay his hand upon his heart, and find 
that he has a soul and a conscience, though he lived before as it 
he had none. He told some friends, that six brothers were con- 
verted by reading that Call; and that every week he received 
letters of some converted by his books. This he spake with most 
humble thankfulness, that God was pleased to use him as an in- 
strument for the salvation of souls. 



PREFACE. 



To ah unsanctifed Persons that shall read this Book ; especially of 
my hearers in the Borough and Parish of Kidderminster. 

Men and Brethren, 

The eternal God, that made you for a life everlasting, and hath 
redeemed you by his only Son, when you had lost it and your- 
selves, being mindful of you in your sin and misery, hath indited 
the gospel, and sealed it by his Spirit, and commanded his minis- 
ters to preach it to the world, that pardon being freely offered you, 
and Heaven being set before you, he might call you off from your 
fleshly pleasures, and from following after this deceitful world, and 
acquaint you with the life that you were created and redeemed for, 
before you are dead and past remedy. He sendeth you not pro- 
phets or apostles, that receive their message by immediate reve- 
lation ; but yet he calleth you by his ordinary ministers, who are 
commissioned by him to preach the same gospel which Christ and 
his apostles first delivered. The Lord seeth how you forget him 
and your latter end, and how light you make of everlasting things, 
as men that understand not what they have to do or suffer. He 
seeth how bold you are in sin, and how fearless of his threatenings, 
and how careless of your souls, and how the works of infidels are 
in your lives, while the belief of Christians is in your mouths. He 
seeth the dreadful day at hand, when your sorrows will begin, and 
you must lament all this with fruitless cries in torment and des- 
peration : and then the remembrance of your folly will tear your 
hearts, if true conversion now prevent it not. In compassion to 
your sinful miserable souls, the Lord, that better knows your case 
than you can know it, hath made it our duty to speak to you in his 
name, (2 Cor. v. 19.) and to tell you plainly of your sin and misery, 
and what will be your end, and how sad a change you will shortly 
see, if yet you go on a little longer. Having bought you at so dear 
a rate as the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, and made you so free 
and general a promise of pardon, and grace, and everlasting glory; 
he commandeth us to tender all this to you, as the gift of God, and 
to entreat you to consider of the necessity and worth of what he 
offers. He sees and pities you, while you are drowned in worldly 
cares and pleasures, eagerly following childish toys, and wasting 
that short and precious time for a thing of nought, in which yon 
should make ready for an everlasting life ; and therefore he hath 
commanded us to call after you, and tell you how you lose your 
labour, and are about to lose your souls, and to tell you what greater 



so 



PREFACE. 



and better things you might certainly have, if you would hearken 
to his call. Isa. lv. 1, 2, 3. We believe and obey the voice of 
God ; and come to you on his message, who hath charged us to 
preach, and be instant with you in season and out of season, to lift 
up our voice like a trumpet, and show you your transgressions and 
your sins. Isa. lviii. 1.; 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2. But, alas! to the grief 
of our souls and your undoing, you stop your ears, you stiffen your 
necks, you harden your hearts ; and send us back to God with 
groans, to tell him that we have done his message, but can do no 
good on you, nor scarcely get a sober hearing. Oh ! that our eyes 
were as a fountain of tears, that we might lament our ignorant 
careless people, that have Christ before them, and pardon, and life, 
and heaven before them, and have not hearts to know or value 
them! that might have Christ, and grace, and glory, as well as 
others, if it were not for their wilful negligence and contempt! O 
that the Lord would fill our hearts with more compassion to these 
miserable souls, that we might cast ourselves even at their feet, 
and follow them to their houses, and speak to them with our bitter 
tears. For, long have we preached to many of them in vain. We 
study plainness to make them understand ; and many of them will 
not understand us ; we study serious piercing words, to make them 
feel, but they will not feel. If the greatest matters would work with 
them, we should awake them ; if the sweetest things would work, 
we should entice them and win their hearts ; if the most dreadful 
things would work, we should at least affright them from their 
wickedness ; if truth and certainty would take with them, we should 
soon convince them; if the God that made them, and the Christ 
that bought them, might be heard, the case would soon be altered 
with them ; if scripture might be heard, we should soon prevail ; if 
reason, even the best and strongest reason, might be heard, we 
should not doubt but we should speedily convince them ; if expe~ 
rience might be heard, even their own experience and the experi- 
ence of all the world, the matter would be mended ; yea, if the 
conscience within them might be heard, the case would be better 
with them than it is. But if nothing can be heard, what then shall 
we do for them ? If the dreadful God of heaven be slighted, who 
then shall be regarded? If the inestimable love and blood of a 
Redeemer be made light of, what then shall be valued ? If heaven 
have no desirable glory with them, and everlasting joys be nothing 
worth; if they can jest at hell, and dance about the bottomless pit, 
and play with the consuming fire, and that when God and man do 
warn them of it, what shall we do for such souls as these ? 

Once more, in the name of the God of heaven I shall do the 
message to you which he hath commanded us, and leave it in these 
standing lines to convert you or condemn you: to change you, or 
rise up in judgment against you, and to be a witness to your facegj 
that once you had a serious call to turn. Hear all you that are 
drudges of the world, and the servants of flesh and Satan ! that 
spend your days in looking after prosperity on earth, and drown 
your conscience in drinking, and gluttony, and idleness, and foolish 
sports, and know your sin, and yet will sin, as if you set God at 



PREFACE. 



31 



defiance, and bid him do his worst and spare not ! Hearken, all 
you that mind not God, and have no heart to holy things, and feel 
no savour in the word or worship of the Lord, or in the thoughts 
or mention of eternal life ; that are careless of your immortal souls, 
and never bestow one hour in inquiring what case they are in, 
whether sanctified or unsanctified, and whether you are ready to 
appear before the Lord ! Hearken all you that, by sinning in light, 
have sinned yourselves into infidelity, and do not believe the word 
of God. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear the gracious 
and yet dreadful call of God ! His eye is all this while upon you. 
Your sins are registered, and you shall surely hear of them all 
again. God keepeth the book now ; and he will write it all upon 
your consciences with his terrors ; and then you also shall keep it 
yourselves ! O sinners, that you but knew what you are doing, 
and whom you are all this while offending ! The sun itself is dark- 
ness before the glory of that Majesty which you daily abuse and 
carelessly provoke. The sinning angels were not able to stand 
before him, but were cast down to be tormented with devils. And 
ilare such silly worms as you so carelessly offend, and set your- 
selves against your Maker ! O that you did but a little know what 
case that wretched soul is in, that hath engaged the living God 
against him ! The word of his mouth, that made thee, can unmake 
thee ; the frown of his face will cut thee off and cast thee out into 
utter darkness. How eager are the devils to be doing with thee 
that have tempted thee, and do but wait for the word from God to 
take and use thee as their own ! and then in a moment thou wilt 
be in hell. If God be against thee, all things are against thee, 
this world is but thy prison, for all thou so lovest it ; thou art but 
reserved in it to the day of wrath (Job xxi. 30.) ; the Judge is 



shall say of thee, 'He is dead and thou shalt see the things that 
thou now dost despise, and feel that which now thou wilt not be- 
lieve. Death will bring such an argument as thou canst not an- 
swer ; an argument that shall effectually confute thy cavils against 
the word and ways of God, and all thy self-conceited dotages. 
And then how soon will thy mind be changed ? Then be an un- 
believer if thou canst ; stand then to all thy former words, which 
thou wast wont to utter against a holy and a heavenly life. Make 
good that cause then before the Lord, which thou wast wont to 
plead against thy teachers; and against the people that feared 
God. Then stand to thy old opinions and contemptuous thoughts 
of the diligence of the saints : make ready now thy strongest rea- 
sons, and stand up then before the Judge, and plead like a man 
for thy fleshly, thy worldly, thy ungodly life. But know that thou 
wilt have one to plead with, that will not be outfaced by thee ; nor 
so easily put off as we thy fellow-creatures. O poor soul ! there 
is nothing but a slender veil of flesh between thee and that amazing 
sight, which will quickly silence thee, and turn thy tone, and make 
thee of another mind! As soon as death hath drawn this curtain, 
thou shalt see that which will quickly leave thee speechless. And 
how quickly will that day and hour come ! When thou hast had 



coming, thy soul i 




Yet a little while, and thy friend 



82 



PREFACE. 



but a few more merry hours, and but a few more pleasant draughts 
and morsels, and a little more of the honours and riches of the 
world, thy portion will be spent, and thy pleasures ended, and all 
is then gone that thou settest thy heart upon ; of all that thou soldest 
thy Saviour and salvation for, there is nothing left but the heavy 
reckoning. As a thief, that sits merrily spending the money which 
he hath stolen, in an alehouse, when men are riding in post haste 
to apprehend him, so is it with you. While you are drowned in 
cares or fleshly pleasures, and making merry with your own shame, 
death is coming in post haste to seize upon you, and carry your 
souls to such a place and state as now you little know or think of. 
Suppose, when you are bold and busy in your sin, that a messen- 
ger were but coming post from London to apprehend you and take 
away your lives ; though you saw him not, yet if you knew that he 
was coming, it would mar your mirth, and you would be thinking 
of the haste he makes, and hearkening when he knocked at your 
door. O that you could but see what haste Death makes, though 
he has not yet overtaken you! No post so swift. No messenger 
more sure. As sure as the sun will be with you in the morning, 
though it hath many thousand and hundred thousand miles to go 
in the night, so sure will Death be quickly with you: and then 
where is your sport and pleasure ? Then will you jest and brave 
it out? Then will you jeer at them that warned you? Then is 
it better to be a believing saint or a sensual worldling? And then 
whose shall all these things be that you have gathered? Luke 
xii. 19, 20, 21. Do you not observe that days and weeks are 
quickly gone, and nights and mornings come apace, and speedily 
succeed each other? You sleep, but your damnation slumbereth 
not ; you linger, but your judgment this long time lingereth not, to 
which you are reserved for punishment. 2 Pet. ii. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9. O 
that you were wise to understand this, and that you did consider 
your latter end ! Deut. xxxii. 29. He that hath an ear to hear, 
let him hear the call of God in this day of his salvation. 

O careless sinners ! that you did but know the love that you 
tmthankfully neglect, and the preciousness of the blood of Christ 
which you despise ! O that you did but know the riches of the 
gospel ! O that you did but know, a little know, the certainty, and 
the glory, and blessedness of that everlasting life, which now you 
will not set your hearts upon, nor be persuaded first and diligently 
to seek. Heb. xi. 6, and xii. 28; and Matt. vi. 13. Did you but 
know the endless life with God which you now neglect, how quickly 
would you cast away your sm, how quickly would you change your 
mind and life, your course and company, and turn the streams of 
your affections, and lay your care another way? How resolutely 
would you scorn to yield to such temptations as now deceive you 
and carry you away ? How zealously would you bestir yourselves 
for that most blessed life ? How earnest would you be with God 
in prayer? How diligent in hearing, and learning, and inquiring? 
How serious in meditating on the laws of God? Ps. i. 2. How 
fearful of sinning in thought, word, and deed ? and how careful to 
please God and grow in holiness ? O what a changed people you 



PREFACE. 



S3 



would be ! And why should not the certain word of God be be- 
lieved by you, and prevail with you, which openeth to you these 
glorious and eternal things ? 

Yea, let me tell you that even here on eartn, you little know the 
difference between the life which you refuse, and the life which 
you choose ? The sanctified are conversing with God, when you 
dare scarce think of him, and when you are conversing with but 
earth and flesh. Their conversation is in heaven, when you are 
utter strangers to it, and your belly is your God, and you are mind- 
ing earthly things. Phil. iii. 18, 19, 20. They are seeking after 
the face of God, when you seek for nothing higher than this world. 
They are busily laying up for an endless life, where they shall be 
equal with the angels, (Luke xx. 36.) when you are taken up with 
a shadow and a transitory thing of nought. How low and base is 
your earthly, fleshly, sinful life, in comparison of the noble and 
spiritual life of true believers ? Many a time have I looked on such 
men with grief and pity, to see them trudge about the world, and 
spend their lives, and care, and labour, for nothing but a little food 
and raiment, or a little fading pelf, or fleshly pleasures, or empty 
honours, as if they had no higher things to mind. What difference 
is there between the lives of these men and of the beasts that 
perish, that spend their time in working, and eating, and living, but 
that they may live? They taste not of the inward heavenly plea- 
sures upon which believers taste and live. I had rather have a 
little of their comfort, which the forethoughts of their heavenly in- 
heritance afford them, though I had all their scorns and sufferings 
with it, than to have all your pleasures and treacherous prosperity. 
I would not have one of your secret pangs of conscience, and dark 
and dreadful thoughts of death and the life to come, for all that 
ever the world hath done for you, or all that you can reasonably 
hope that it should do. If I were in your unconverted carnal state, 
and knew but what I know,' and believe but what I now believe, 
methinks my life would be a foretaste of hell. How oft should I 
be thinking of the terrors of the Lord, and of the dismal day that 
is hastening on ! Sure death and hell would be still before me. I 
should think of them by day, and dream of them by night ; I should 
lie down in fear, and rise in fear, and live in fear, lest death should 
come before I were converted. I should have small felicity in any 
thing that I possessed, and little pleasure in any company, and little 
joy in any thing in the world, as long as I knew myself to be under 
the curse and wrath of God. I should be still afraid of hearing 
that voice, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. 
Luke xii. 20. And that fearful sentence would be written upon 
my conscience, There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. 
Isaiah xlviii. 22. lvii. 21. O poor sinners! It is a more joyful life 
than this, that you might live, if you were but willing, but truly 
willing to hearken to Christ, and come home to God. You might 
then draw near to God with boldness, and call him your Father, 
and comfortably trust him with your souls and bodies. If you look 
upon the promises, you may say, They are all mine. If upon the 
curse, you may say, From this I am delivered. When you read 



S4 



PREFACE. 



the law, you may see what you are saved from. When you read 

the gospel, you may see him that redeemed you, and see the 
course of his love, and holy life, and sufferings, and trace him in 
his temptations, tears, and blood, in the work of your salvation. 
You may see death conquered, and heaven opened, and your resur- 
rection and glorification provided for in the resurrection and glori- 
fication of the Lord. If you look on the saints, you may say, They 
are my brethren and companions. If on the unsanctified, you may 
rejoice to think that you are saved from that state. If you look 
upon the heavens, the sun, and moon, and stars innumerable, you 
may think and say, My Father's face is infinitely more glorious; it 
is higher matters that He hath prepared for his saints; yonder is 
but the outward court of heaven. The blessedness that He hath 
promised me is so much higher, that flesh and blood cannot behold 
it. If you think of the grave, you may remember that the glorified 
Spirit, a living Head, and a loving Father, have all so near a rela- 
tion to your dust, that it cannot be forgotten or neglected, but will 
more certainly revive than the plants and flowers in the spring: 
because that the soul is still alive, that is the root of the body; and 
Christ is alive, that is the root of both. Even death, which is the 
king of fears, may be remembered and entertained with joy, as 
being the day of your deliverance from the remnant of sin and sor- 
row, and the day which you believed, and hoped, and waited for, 
when you shall see the blessed things which you had heard of, and 
shall find by present joyful experience what it was to choose the 
better part, and to be a sincere believing saint. What say you, 
sir? Is not this a more delightful life, to be assured of salvation 
and ready to die, than to live as the ungodly,, that have their hearts 
overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this 
life, and so that day comes upon them unawares ? Luke xxi. S4, 
36. Might you not live a comfortable life, if once you were made 
the heirs of heaven, and sure to be saved when you leave the 
world? O look about you then, and think what you do, and cast 
not away such hopes as these for very nothing. The flesh and 
world can give you no such hopes or comforts. 

And besides all the misery that you bring upon yourselves, you 
are the troublers of others as long as you are unconverted. You 
trouble magistrates to rule you by their laws ; you trouble minis- 
ters by resisting the light and guidance which they offer you. 
Your sin and misery are the greatest grief and trouble to them in 
the world. You trouble the commonwealth, and draw the judg- 
ments of God upon you. It is you that most disturb the holy 
peace and order of the churches, and hinder our union and refor- 
mation, and are the shame and trouble of the churches where you 
intrude, and of the places where you are. Ah, Lord! how heavy 
and sad a case is this, that even in England, where the gospel doth 
abound above any other nation in the world, where teaching is so 
plain and common, and all the helps we can desire are at hand ; 
when the sword has been hewing us, and judgment has run as a 
fire through the land; when deliverances have relieved us, and so 
many admirable mercies have engaged us to God, and to the gos- 



PREFACE. 



35 



pel, and a holy life ; that, after all this, our cities, and towns, and 
counties, shall abound with multitudes of unsanctified men, and 
swarm with so much sensuality, as every where, to our grief, we 
see ? One would have thought, that after all this light, and all this 
experience, and all these judgments and mercies of God, the peo- 
ple of this nation should have joined together, as one man, to turn 
to the Lord, and should have come to their godly teacher, and 
lamented all their former sins, and desired him to join with them, 
in public humiliation, to confess them openly, and beg pardon of 
them from the Lord, and should have craved his instruction for the 
time to come, and be glad to be ruled by the Spirit within, and the 
ministers of Christ without, according to the word of God. One 
would think that, after such reason and Scripture evidence as they 
hear, and after all these means and mercies, there should not be 
an ungodly person left among us, nor a worldling, nor a drunkard, 
nor a hater of reformation, nor an enemy to holiness, to be found 
in all our towns and counties. If we be not all agreed about some 
ceremonies or forms of government, one would think that, before 
this, we should have been agreed to live a holy and heavenly life, 
in obedience to God, his word, and ministers, and in love and peace 
with one another. But, alas! how far are our people from this 
course! Most of them, in most places, do set their hearts on 
earthly things, and seek not " first the kingdom of God and the 
righteousness thereof" but look on holiness as a needless thing: 
their families are prayerless, or else a few heartless lifeless words 
must serve instead of hearty fervent daily prayers, (or perhaps only 
on the Lord's day, in the evening:) their children are not taught 
the knowledge of Christ, and the covenant of grace, nor brought 
up in the nurture of the Lord, though they firmly promised all this 
at their baptism. 

They instruct not their servants in the matters of salvation ; but 
so their work be done, they care not. There are more railing 
speeches in their families than gracious words that tend to edifica- 
tion. How few are the families that fear the Lord, and inquire at 
his word and ministers how they should live, and what they should 
do, and are willing to be taught and ruled, and that heartily look 
after everlasting life ! And those few that God hath made so nappy, 
are commonly the by- word of their neighbours. When we see 
some live in drunkenness, and some in pride and worldliness, an4 
most of them have little care of their salvation, though the cause 
be gross and past all controversy, yet will they hardly be convinced 
of their misery, and more hardly recovered and reformed ; but, 
when we have done all that we are able, to save them from their 
sins, we leave the most of them as we find them. And if, accord- 
ing to the law of God, we cast them out of the communion of the 
church, when they have obstinately rejected all our admonitions^ 
they rage at us as if we were their enemies, and their hearts are 
filled with malice against us, and they will sooner set themselves 
against the Lord, and his laws, and church, and ministers, than 
against their deadly sins. This is the dolefui case of England: 
we have magistrates that countenance the ways of godliness, ant) 



36 



PREFACE. 



a happy opportunity for unity and reformation is before us, and 
faithful ministers long to see the right ordering of the church and 
of the ordinances of God: but the power of sin in our people doth 
frustrate almost all. No where almost can a faithful minister set 
up the unquestionable discipline of Christ, or put back the most 
scandalous impenitent sinners from the communion of the church 
and participation of the sacraments, but the most of the people rau 
at them and revile them; as if these ignorant careless souls were 
wiser than their teachers, or than God himself. And thus, in the 
day of our visitation, when God calls upon us to reform his church, 
though magistrates seem willing, and faithful ministers seem will- 
ing, yet are the multitude of the people still unwilling, and have so 
blinded themselves, and hardened their hearts, that, even in these 
days of light and grace, they are the obstinate enemies of light and 
grace, and will not be brought by the calls of God to see their folly, 
and know what is for their good. O that the people of England 
knew at least in this their day, the things that belong unto their 
peace, before they are hid from their eyes ! Luke xix. 42. 

0 foolish miserable souls! Gal. iii. 1. Who hath bewitched 
your minds into such madness, and your hearts unto such dead- 
ness, that you should be such mortal enemies to yourselves, and go 
on so obstinately towards damnation, that neither the word of God, 
nor the persuasions of men, can change your minds, or hold your 
hands, or stop you, till you are past remedy! Well, sinners ! this 
life will not last always ; this patience will not wait upon you still. 
Do not think that you shall abuse your Maker and Redeemer, and 
serve his enemies, and debase your souls, and trouble the world, 
and wrong the church, and reproach the godly, and grieve your 
teachers, and hinder reformation, and all this upon free cost. You 
know not yet what this must cost you, but you must shortly know, 
when the righteous God shall take you in hand, who will handle 
you in another manner than the sharpest magistrates or the plainest 
dealing pastors did, unless you prevent the everlasting torments, 
by a sound conversion and a speedy obeying of the call of God. 
"He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear," while mercy hath a 
voice to call. 

One objection I find most common in the mouths of the ungodly, 
especially of late years ; they say, ' We can do nothing without 
God, we cannot have grace, if God will not give it us ; and, if he 
will, we shall quickly turn; if he have not predestinated us, and 
will not turn us, how can we turn ourselves, or be saved ? It is 
not in him that wills nor in him that runs.' And thus they think 
tiey are excused. 

1 have answered this formerly, and in this book ; but let me now 
say this much. 1. Though you cannot cure yourselves, you can 
hurt and poison yourselves. It is God that must sanctify your 
hearts ; but who corrupted them ? Will you wilfully take poison, 
because you cannot cure yourselves ? Methinks you should the 
more forbear it. You should the more take heed of sinning, if you 
cannot mend what sin doth mar. 2. Though you cannot be con- 
verted without the special grace of God, yet you must know that 



PREFACE. 



37 



God giveth his grace in the use of his holy means which he hath 
appointed to that end ; and common grace may enable you to for- 
bear your gross sinning (as to the outward act) and to use those 
means. Can you truly say, that you do as much as you are able 
to do ? Are you not able to go by an alehouse door, or to forbear 
the company that hardeneth you in sin? Are you not able to hear 
the word, and think of what you heard when you come home, and 
to consider with yourselves of your own condition and of ever- 
lasting things ? Are you not able to read good books from day to 
day, at least on the Lord's day, and to converse with those that 
fear the Lord? You cannot say that you have done what you are 
able. 3. And therefore you must know that you can forfeit the 
grace and help of God by your wilful sinning or negligence, though 
you cannot, without grace, turn to God. If you will not do what 
you can, it is just with God to deny you that grace by which you 
might do more. 4. And, for God's decrees, you must know that 
they separate not the end and means, but tie them together. God 
never decreed to save any but the sanctified, nor to damn any but 
the unsanctified. God doth as truly decree whether your land 
this year shall be barren or fruitful, and just how long you shall 
live in the world, as he hath decreed whether you shall be saved 
or not; and yet you would think that man but a fool that would 
forbear ploughing and sowing, and say, 'If God hath decreed that 
my ground shall bear corn, it will bear, whether I plough and sow 
or not. If God have decreed that I shall live, I shall live, whether 
I eat or not ; but, if he have not, it is not eating that will keep me 
alive.' Do you know how to answer such a man, or do you not? 
If you do, then you know how to answer yourselves ; for, the case 
as alike : God's decree is as peremptory about your bodies as your 
souls ; if you do not, then try first these conclusions upon your 
bodies, before you venture to try them on your souls : see first 
whether God will keep you alive without food or raiment, and 
whether he will give you corn without tillage and labour, and 
whether he will bring you to your journey's end without your travel 
or carriage ; and if you speed well in this, then try whether he 
will bring you to heaven without your diligent use of means, and 
sit down and say, We cannot sanctify ourselves. 

Well, sirs, I have but three requests to you, and I have done. 

First, That you will seriously read over this small treatise ; and, 
if you have such as need it in your families, that you would read it 
over and over to them ; and if those that fear God would go now 
and then to their ignorant neighbours, and read this or some other 
book to them of this subject, they might be a means of winning 
souls. If we cannot entreat so small a labour of men for their 
own salvation, as to read such short instructions as these, they set 
little by themselves, and will most justly perish. 

Secondly, When you have read over this book, I would entreat 
you to go alone and ponder a little what you have read, and be- 
think you, as in the sight of God, whether it be not true, and do 
not nearly touch your souls, and whether it be not time to look 
about you. And also entreat you, that you will upon your knees 

4 



38 



PREFACE. 



beseech the Lord that he will open your eyes to understand th« 
truth, and turn your hearts to the love of God, and beg of him all 
that saving grace which you have so long neglected, and follow it 
on from day to day, till your hearts be changed. And withal, that 
you will go to your pastors, (that are set over ycu to take care of 
the health and safety of your souls, as physicians do for the health 
of your bodies,) and desire them to direct you what course to take, 
and acquaint them with your spiritual estate, that you may have 
the benefit of their advice and ministerial help. 

Or, if you have not a faithful pastor at home, make use of some 
other in so great a need. 

Thirdly, When, by reading, consideration, prayer, and minis- 
terial advice, you are once acquainted with your sin and misery, 
with your duty and remedy, delay not, but presently forsake your 
sinful company and courses, and turn to God, and obey his call. 
As you love your souls, take heed that ye go not on against so 
loud a call of God, and against your own knowledge and con- 
science, lest it go worse with you in the day of judgment than with 
Sodom and Gomorrah. Inquire of God, as a man that is willing 
to know the truth, and not be a wilful cheater of his soul. Search 
the holy Scriptures daily, and see whether these things be so or 
not: try impartially whether it be safer to trust heaven or earth, 
and whether it be better to follow God or man, the Spirit or the- 
flesh, and better to live in holiness or sin, and whether an unsanc- 
tified state be safe for you to abide in one day longer ; and when 
you have found out which is best, resolve accordingly, and make 
your choice without any more ado. If you will be true to your 
own souls, and do not love everlasting torments, I beseech you, as 
from the Lord, that you will but take this reasonable advice. O 
what happy towns and counties, and what a happy nation might 
we have, if we could but persuade our neighbours to agree to such 
a necessary motion ! What joyful men would all faithful ministers 
be, if they could but see their people truly heavenly and holy ; this 
would be the unity, the peace, the safety, the glory, of our churches j 
the happiness of our neighbours, and the comfort of our souls- 
Then how comfortably should we preach pardon and peace to you, 
and deliver the sacraments, which are the seals of peace to you L 
And with what love and joy might we live among you! At your 
deathbed how boldly might we comfort and encourage your de- 
parting souls ! And at your burial, how comfortably might we 
leave you in the grave, in expectation to meet your souls in heaven> 
and to see your bodies raised to that glory ! 

But, if still the most of you will go on in a careless, ignorant, 
fleshly, worldly, or unholy life, and alL our desires and labours 
cannot so far prevail as to keep you from the wilful damning of 
yourselves, we must then imitate our Lord, who delighteth himself 
m those few that are jewels, and in a little flock that shall receive 
the kingdom, when the most shall reap the misery which they 
sowed. In nature, excellent things are few. The world hath not 
many suns, or moons ; it is but a little of the earth that is gold ot 
silver. Princes and nobles are but a small part of the sons of mea* 



PREFACE. 



3i 



and it is no great number that are learned, judicious, or wise, here 
in this world. And, therefore, if the gate being strait and very 
narrow, there be but few that find salvation, yet God will have his 
glory and pleasure in those few. And, when Christ shall come 
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, his coming will be glorified in his saints, and admired in all 
true believers. 2 Thess. i. .7, 8, 9, 10. 

And for the rest, as God the Father vouchsafed to create them, 
and God the Son disdained not to bear the penalty o their sins 
upon the cross, and did not judge such sufferings in vain, though 
he knew that by refusing the sanctification of the Holy Ghost they 
would finally destroy themselves, so we, that are his ministers, 
though these be net gathered, judge not our labour wholly lost. 
See Isa. xlix. 5. 

Reader, I have done with thee, when thou hast perused this 
book ; but sin hath not yet done with thee, even those that thou 
thoughtest had been forgotten long ago, and Satan hath not yet 
done with thee, though now he be out of sight, and God hath not 
yet done with thee, because thou wilt not be persuaded to have 
done with the deadly reigning sin. I have written thee this per- 
suasive, as one that is going into another world, where the things 
are seen that I here speak of, and as one that knoweth thou must 
be shortly there thyself. As ever thou wilt meet me with comfort 
before the Lord that made us ; as ever thou wilt escape the ever- 
lasting plagues prepared for the final neglecters of salvation, and 
for all that are not sanctified by the Holy Ghost ; and love not the 
communion of the saints as members of the holy catholic church; 
and as ever thou hopest to see the face of Christ the Judge, and 
of the majesty of the Father, with peace and comfort, and to be 
received into glory when thou art turned naked out of this world ; 
I beseech thee, I charge thee, to hear and obey the Call of God, 
and resolvedly to turn, that thou mayst live. But, if thou wilt 
not, even when thou hast no true reason for it, but because thou 
wilt not, I summon thee to answer it before the Lord, and require 
thee there to bear me witness that I gave thee warning, and that 
thou wast not condemned for want of a call to turn and live, but 
^ecause thou wouldst not believe it, and obey it ; which also must 
be the testimony of 

Thy serious Monitor, 

RICHARD BAXTER. 

December 11. 1657. 



A CALL 

TO THE UNCONVERTED. 



EZEKIEL XXXIII. 11. 

Say unto them, Jls I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure 
in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from 
his way and live : turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways ; for 
why will ye die, 0 house of Israel ? 

It hath "been the astonishing wonder of many a man 
as well as me, to read in the holy Scriptures how few 
will be saved, and that the greatest part even of those 
that are called, will be everlastingly shut out of the 
kingdom of heaven, and be tormented with the devils 
in eternal fire. Infidels believe not this when they read 
it, and therefore they must feel it ; those that do be- 
lieve it, are forced to cry out with Paul, (Rom. xi. 13,) 
" O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judg- 
ments, and his ways past finding out 1" But nature 
itself doth teach us all to lay the blame of evil works 
upon the doers ; and therefore when we see any hei- 
nous thing done, a principle of justice doth provoke 
us to inquire after hkn that did it, that the evil of the 
work may return the evil of shame upon the author. 
If we saw a man killed and cut in pieces by the way, 
we would presently ask, Oh ! who did this cruel deed? 
If the town was wilfully set on fire, you would ask, 
what wicked wretch did this ? So when we read that 
many souls will be miserable in hell for ever, we must 
needs think with ourselves, how comes this to pass ? 



A CALL TO 



and whose fault is it ? Who is it that is so cruel as ta 
be the cause of such a thing as this ? and we can meet 
with few that will own the guilt. It is indeed con- 
fessed by all, that Satan is the cause ; but that doth 
not resolve the doubt, because he is not the principal 
cause. He doth not force men to sin, but tempts them 
to it, and leaves it to their own wills whether they will 
do it or not. He doth not carry men to an alehouse 
and force open their mouths and pour in the drink ; 
nor doth he hold them that they cannot go to God's 
service; nor doth he force their hearts from holy 
thoughts. It lieth therefore between God himself and 
the sinner ; one of them must needs be the principal 
cause of all this misery, whichever it is, for there is no 
other to lay it upon ; and God disclaimeth it ; he will 
not take it upon him ; and the wicked disclaim it 
usually, and they will not take it upon them, and this 
is the controversy that is here managing in my text. 

The Lord complaineth of the people ; and the peo 
pie think it is the fault of God. The same contro- 
versy is handled, chap, xviii. 25 ; they plainly say,. 
" that the way of the Lord is not equal." So here 
they say, verse 19, " If our transgressions and our sins 
be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall we 
then live ?" As if they should say, if we must die, 
and be miserable, how can we help it ; as if it were 
not their fault but God's. But God, in my text, doth 
clear himself of it, and telleth them how they may 
help it if they will, and persuadeth them to use the 
means, and if they will not be persuaded, he lets them 
know that it is the fault of themselves ; and if this will 
not satisfy them, he will not forbear to punish them. 
It is he that will be the Judge, and he will judge them 
according to their ways ; they are no judge of him or 
of themselves, as wanting authority, and wisdom, and 
impartiality, nor is it the cavilling and quarrelling with 
God that shall serve their turn, or save them from the 
execution of justice at which they murmur. 

The words of this verse contain, 1. God's purgation 
or clearing himself from the blame of their destruction. 
This he doth not by disowning his law that the wicked 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



4S 



shall die, nor by disowning his judgments and execu- 
tion according to that law, or giving them any hope 
that the law shall not he executed ; but by professing 
that it is not their death that he takes pleasure in, but 
their returning rather, that they may live ; and this he 
confirmeth to them by his oath. 2 An express exhor- 
tation to the wicked to return ; wherein God doth not 
only command, but persuade and condescend also to 
reason the case with them. Why will they die ? The 
direct end of this exhortation is, that they may turn 
and live. The secondary or reserved ends, upon sup- 
position that this is not attained, are these two : First, 
To convince them by the means which he used, that it 
is not the fault of God if they be miserable. Secondly, 
To convince them from their manifest wilfulness in 
rejecting all his commands and persuasions, that it is 
the fault of themselves, and they die, even because they 
will die. 

The substance of the text doth lie in these observa- 
tions following : — 

Doctrine 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that 
wicked men must turn or die. 

Doctrine 2. It is the promise of God, that the wick- 
ed shall live, if they will but turn. 

Doctrine 3. God takes pleasure in men's conversion 
and salvation, but not in their death or damnation : he 
had rather they would return and live, than go on and 
die. 

Doctrine 4. This is a most certain truth, which 
because God would not have men to question, he hath 
confirmed it to them solemnly by his oath. 

Doctrine 5. The Lord doth redouble his commands' 
and persuasions to the wicked to turn. 

Doctrine 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the 
case with them ; and asketh the wicked why they will 
die? 

Doctrine 7. If after all this the wicked will not turn, 
it is not the fault of God that they perish, but of them- 
selves $ their own wilfulness is the cause of their own 
*^unation ; they therefore die because they will die. 



44 



A CALL TO 



Having laid the text open in these propositions, I 
shall next speak somewhat of each of them in order, 
though very briefly. 

Doctrine 1. It is the unchangeable law of God, that 
wicked men must turn, or die. 

If you will believe God, believe this : there is but 
one of these two ways for every wicked man, either 
conversion or damnation. I know the wicked will 
hardly be persuaded either of the truth or equity of 
this. No wonder if the guilty quarrel with the law. 
Few men are apt to believe that which they would not 
have to be true, and fewer would have that to be true 
which they apprehend to be against them. But it is 
not quarrelling with the law, or with the judge, that 
will save the malefactor. Believing and regarding the 
law might have prevented his death ; but d'enying and 
accusing it will but hasten it. If it w T ere not so, a 
hundred would bring their reason against the law, for 
one that would bring his reason to the law, and men 
would rather choose to give their reasons why they 
should not be punished, than to hear the commands 
and reasons of their governors which require them to 
obey. The law was not made for you to judge, but 
that you might be ruled and judged by it. 

Bat if there be any so blind as to venture to ques- 
tion either the truth or the justice of this law of God, 
I shall briefly give you that evidence of both, which, 
methinks, should satisfy a reasonable man. 

And first, if you doubt whether this be the word 
of God, or not, besides a hundred other texts, you 
may be satisfied by these few: — Matt, xviii. 3. " Veri- 
ly I say unto you, except ye be converted and become 
as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God. 55 John hi. 3. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
except a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God. 5 ' 2 Cor. v. 17. u If any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed 
away ; behold, all things are become new. 55 Col. hi. 
9, 10. " Ye have put off the old man with his deeds, 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



45 



and have put on the new man, which is renewed in 
knowledge after the image of him that created him." 
Heb. xii. 14. " Without holiness, none shall see God." 
Rom. viii. 8, 9. " So then they that are in the flesh 
cannot please God. Now if any man have not the 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 55 Gal. vi. 15. " For 
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, 
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 55 1 Pet. i. 3. 
" According to his abundant grace he hath begotten us 
to a lively hope. 55 Ver. 23. " Being born again, not 
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word 
of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 55 1 Pet. ii. 
1, 2. " Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, 
and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil speaking, as new 
born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye 
may grow thereby. 55 Psalm ix. 17. " The wicked shall 
be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. 5 ' 
Psalm xi. 4. " And the Lord loveth the righteous, 
but the wicked his soul hateth." 

As I need not stay to open these texts which are so 
plain, so I think I need not add any more of that multi- 
tude which speak the like. If thou be a man that dost 
believe the word of God, here is already enough to sa- 
tisfy thee, that the wicked must be converted or con- 
demned. You are already brought so far, that you 
must either confess that this is true, or say plainly, you 
will not believe the word of God. And if once you 
be come to that pass, there is but small hopes of you : 
look to yourselves as well as you can, for it is like you 
will not be long out of hell. You would be ready to 
fly in the face of him that should give you the lie ; and 
yet dare you give the lie to God ? But if you tell God 
plainly you will not believe him, blame him not if he 
never warn you more, or if he forsake you, and give 
you up as hopeless ; for to what purpose should he 
warn you, if you will not believe him? Should he send 
an angel from heaven to you, it seems you would not 
believe. For an angel can speak but the word of God ; 
and if an angel should bring you any other gospel, you 
are not to receive it, but to hold him accursed. Gal. i. 
8. And surely there is no angel to be believed before the 



46 



A CALL TO 



Son of God, who came from the Father to bring us this 
doctrine. If he be not to be believed, then all the angels 
in heaven are not to be believed. And if you stand on 
these terms with God, I shall leave you till he deal 
with you in a more convincing way. God hath a voice 
that will make you hear. Though he entreat you to 
hear the voice of his gospel, he will make you hear the 
voice of his condemning sentence, without entreaty. 
We cannot make you believe against your wills ; but 
God will make you feel against your wills. 

But let us hear what reason you have why you will 
not believe this word of God, which tells us that the 
wicked must be converted, or condemned, i know 
your reason ; it is because that you judge it unlikely 
that God should be so unmerciful : you think it cruelty 
to damn men everlastingly for so small a thing as a sinful 
life. And this leads us to the second thing, which is to 
justify the equity of God in his laws and judgments. * 

And first, I think you will not deny but that it is 
most suitable to an immortal soul, to be ruled by laws 
that promise an immortal reward, and threaten an end- 
less punishment. Otherwise the law should not be 
suited to the nature of the subject, who will not be 
fully ruled by any lower means than the hopes or fears 
of everlasting things : as it is in cases of temporal 
punishment, if a law were now made that the most 
heinous crimes shall be punished with a hundred years' 
captivity, this might be of some efficacy, as being equal 
to our lives. But, if there had been no other penalties 
before the flood, when men lived eight or nine hundred 
years, it would not have been sufficient, because men 
would know that they might have so many hundred 
years' impunity afterwards. So it is in our present 
case. 

2. I suppose that you will confess, that the promise 
of an endless and inconceivable glory is not so unsuita- 
ble to the wisdom of God, or the case of man : and why 
then should you not think so of the threatening of an 
endless and unspeakable misery ! 

3. When you find it in the word of God that so it is, 
and so it will be, do ye think yourselves fit to contra- 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



m 



diet this word ? Will you call your Maker to the bar, 
and examine his word upon the accusation of false- 
hood ? Will you sit upon him, and judge him by the 
law of your conceits ? Are you wiser, and better, and 
more righteous than he ? Must the God of heaven 
come to school to you to learn wisdom ? Must Infinite 
Wisdom learn of folly, and Infinite Goodness be cor 
rected by a swinish sinner, that cannot keep himself 
an hour clean ? Must the Almighty stand at the bar of 
a worm ? 0 horrid arrogancy of senseless dust ! shall 
ever mole, or clod, or dunghill, accuse the sun of 
darkness, and undertake to illuminate the world ? 
Where were you when the Almighty made the laws^ 
that he did not call you to his council? Surely he 
made them before you were born, without desiring 
your advice ; and you came into the world too late to 
reverse them, if you could have done so great a work. 
You should have stepped out of your nothingness and 
have contradicted Christ when he was on earth, or 
Moses before him, or have saved Adam and his sinful 
progeny from the threatened death, that so there might 
have been no need of Christ. And what if God with- 
draw his patience and sustaining power, and let you 
drop into hell while you are quarrelling with his word,, 
will you then believe that there is a hell ? 

4. If sin be such an evil that it requireth the death 
of Christ for its expiation, no wonder if it deserve our 
everlasting misery. 

5. And if the sin of the devils deserved an endless- 
torment, why not also the sin of man ? 

6. And methinks you should perceive that it is not 
possible for the best of men, much less for the wicked s 
to be competent judges of the desert of sin. Alas ! we 
are both blind and partial. You can never know fulhf 
the desert of sin, till you fully know the evil of sin ; and 
you can never fully know the evil of sin, till you fully 
know, 1. The excellency of the soul which it deform- 
eth. 2. And the excellency of holiness which it obli- 
terates. 3. The reason and excellency of the law 
which it violates. 4. The excellency of the glory 
which it despises. 5. The excellency and office of 



48 



A CA.LL TO 



reason which it treadeth down. 6. No, nor till you 
know the infinite excellency, almightiness and holiness 
of that God against whom it is committed. When 
you fully know all these, you shall fully know the 
desert of sin besides. You know that the offender is 
too partial to judge the law, or the proceeding of his 
judge. We judge by feeling, which blinds our reason. 
We see, in common worldly things, that most men 
think the cause is right which is their own, and that all 
is wrong that is done against them ; and let the most 
wise or just impartial friends persuade them to the 
contrary, and it is all in vain. There are few children 
but think the father is unmerciful, or dealeth hardly 
with them, if he whip them. There is scarce the vilest 
wretch but thinkeththe church doth wrong him if they 
excommunicate him : or scarce a thief or murderer 
that is hanged, but would accuse the law and judge of 
cruelty, if that would serve their turn. 

7. Can you think that an unholy soul is fit for hea- 
ven ? Alas, they cannot love God here, nor do him any 
service which he can accept. They are contrary to 
God ; they loathe that which he most loveth, and love 
that which he abhorreth. They are incapable of that 
imperfect communion with him which his saints here 
partake of. How then can they live in that perfect love 
of him, and full delights and communion with him, 
which is the blessedness of heaven ? Ye do not accuse 
yourselves of unmercifulness, if you make not your 
enemy your bosom counsellor ; or if you take not your 
swine to bed and board with you : no, nor if you take 
away his life, though he never sinned ; and yet you will 
blame the absolute Lord, the most wise and gracious 
Sovereign of the world, if he condemn the unconverted 
to perpetual misery. 

Use. — I beseech you now, all that love your souls, 
that, instead of quarrelling with God and with his 
word, you will presently stoop to it, and use it for your 
good. All you that are yet unconverted in this assem- 
bly, take this as the undoubted truth of God : — You 
must, ere long, be converted or condemned ; there is 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



no other way but to turn or die. When God, that 
cannot lie, hath told you this ; when you hear it from 
the Maker and Judge of the world, it is time for him 
that hath ears to hear. By this time you may see what 
you have to trust to. You are but dead and damned 
men, except you will be converted. Should I tell you 
otherwise, I should deceive you with a lie. Should I 
hide this from you, I should undo you, and be guilty of 
your blood, as the verses before my text assure me. 
Terse 8. " When I say to the wicked man, O wicked 
man, thou shalt surely die ; if thou dost not speak to 
warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall 
die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine 
hand. 55 You see, then, though this be a rough and un- 
welcome doctrine, it is such as we must preach, and 
you must hear. It is easier to hear of hell than feel it. 
If your necessities did not require it, we would not gall 
your tender ears with truths that seem so harsh and 
grievous. Hell would not be so full, if people were 
but willing to know their case, and to hear and think 
ot it. The reason why so few escape it is, because 
they strive not to enter in at the strait gate of conver- 
sion, and go the narrow way of holiness, while they 
have time : and they strive not, because they are not, 
awakened to a lively feeling of the danger they are in ; 
and they are not awakened because they are loath to 
hear or think of it : and that is partly through foolish 
tenderness and carnal self-love, and partly because 
they do not well believe the word that threateneth it. 
If you will not thoroughly believe this truth, methinks 
the weight of it should force you to remember it, and 
it should follow you, and give you no rest till you are 
converted. If you had but once heard this word by 
the voice of an angel, " Thou must be converted, 55 or 
u condemned: turn, or die: 55 would it not stick in 
your minds, and haunt you night and day ? so that in 
your sinning you would remember it, as if the voice 
were still in your ears, " Turn, or die ! 55 0 happy were 
your souls if it might thus work with you and never be 
forgotten, or let you alone till it. have driven home your 
hearts to God. But if you will cast it out by forgetful- 



50 



A CALL TO 



ness or unbelief, how can it work to your conversion 
and salvation? But take this with you to your sorrow, 
though you may put this out of your minds, you can- 
not put it out of the Bible, but there it will stand as a 
sealed truth, which you shall experimentally know for 
ever, that there is no other way but turn, or die. 

O what is the matter, then, that the hearts of sin- 
ners are not pierced with such a weighty truth ? A 
man would think now, that every unconverted soul 
that hears these words should be pricked to the heart, 
and think with themselves, c This is my own case, 5 and 
never be quiet till they have found themselves con- 
verted. Believe it, sirs, this drowsy careless temper 
will not last long. Conversion and condemnation are 
both of them awakening things, and one of them will 
make you feel ere long. I can foretell it as truly as if 
I saw it with my eyes, that either grace, or hell will 
shortly bring these matters to the quick, and make 
you say, 1 What have I done ? what a foolish wicked 
course have I taken ? 5 The scornful and the stupid state 
of sinners will last but a little while ; as soon as they 
either turn or die, the presumptuous dream will be at 
an end, and then their wits and feeling will return. 

But I foresee there are two things that are likely to 
harden the unconverted, and make me lose all my 
labour, except they can be taken out of the way ; and 
that is, the misunderstanding on those two words, the 
wicked and turn. Some will think to themselves, 8 It 
is true, the wicked must turn or die ; but what is that 
to me, I am not wicked ; though I am a sinner, all men 
are. 3 Others will think, 'It is true that we must turn 
from our evil ways, but I am turned long ago ; I hope 
this is not now to do. 5 And thus, while wicked men 
think they are not wicked, but are already converted, 
we lose all our labour in persuading them to turn. I 
shall, therefore, before I go any further, tell you here 
who are meant by the wicked ; and who they are that 
must turn or die ; and also what is meant by turning, 
and who they are that are truly converted. And this 
I have purposely reserved for this place, preferring the 
method that fits my end. 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



51 



And here you may observe, that in the sense of the 
text, a wicked man and a converted man are contra- 
ries. No man is a wicked man that is converted ; and 
no man is a converted man that is wicked ; so that to 
be a wicked man and to be an unconverted man, is all 
one ; and therefore in opening one, we shall open both- 

Before I can tell you what either wickedness or con 
version is, I must go to the bottom, and fetch up the 
matter from the beginning. 

It pleased the great Creator of the world to make 
three sorts of living creatures. Angels he made pure 
spirits without flesh, and therefore he made them only 
for heaven, and not to dwell on earth. Brutes were 
made flesh, without immortal souls, and therefore they 
were made only for earth, and not for heaven. Man 
is of a middle nature, between both, as partaking of 
both flesh and spirit, and therefore he was made both 
for heaven and earth. But as his flesh is made to be 
but a servant to his spirit, so is he made for earth but 
as his passage or way to heaven, and not that this 
should be his home or happiness. The blessed state 
that man was made for, was to behold the glorious ma- 
jesty of the Lord, and to praise him among his Holy 
Angels, and to love him, and to be filled with his love 
for ever. And as this was the end that man was made 
for, so God did give him means that were fitted to the 
attaining of it. These means were principally two : 
First, the right inclination and disposition of the mind 
of man. Secondly, the right ordering of his life and 
practice. For the first, God suited the disposition of 
man unto his end, giving him such knowledge of God 
as was fit for his present state, and a heart disposed 
and inclined to God in holy love. But yet he did not 
fix or confirm him in this condition, but, having made 
him a free agent, he left him in the hands of his own 
free will. For the second, God did thai which belong- 
ed to him ; that is, he gave him a perfect law, required 
him to continue in the love of God, and perfectly to 
obey him. By the wilful breach of this law, man did 
not only forfeit his hopes of everlasting life, but also 
turned his heart from God, and fixed it on these lower 



A CALL TO 



fleshly things, and hereby blotted out the spiritual imago 
of God from his soul ; so that man did both fall short 
of the glory of God, which was his end, and put him- 
self out of the way by which he should have attained 
it, and this both as to the frame of his heart, and of his 
life. The holy inclination and love of his soul to God, 
he lost, and instead of it he contracted an inclination 
and love to the pleasing of his flesh, or carnal self, by 
earthly things ; growing strange to God and acquainted 
with the creature. And the course of this life was 
suited to the bent and inclination of his heart; he lived 
to his carnal self, and not to God ; he sought the crea- 
ture, for the pleasing of his flesh, instead of seeking to 
please the Lord. With this nature or corrupt inclina- 
tion, we are all now born into the world ; " for who 
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? 15 Job xiv. 
4. As a lion hath a fierce and cruel nature before he 
doth devour, and an adder hath a venomous nature 
before she sting, so in our infancy we have those sinful 
natures or inclinations, before we think, or speak, or 
do amiss. And hence springeth all the sin of our lives ; 
and not only so, but when God hath of his mercy 
provided us a remedy, even the Lord Jesus Christ, to 
be the Saviour of our souls, and bring us back to God 
again, we naturally love our present state, and are loath 
to be brought out of it, and therefore are set against 
the means of our recovery: and though custom hath 
taught us to thank Christ for his good-will, yet carnal 
self persuades us to refuse his remedies, and to desire 
to be excused, when we are commanded to take the 
medicines which he offers, and are called to forsake all 
and follow him to God and glory. 

I pray you read over this leaf again, and mark it ; 
for in these few words you have a true description of 
our natural state, and consequently of wicked man; 
for every man that is in the state of corrupted nature 
is a wicked man, and in a state of death. 

By this also you are prepared to understand what 
it is to be converted : to which end you must further 
know, that the mercy of God, not willing that man 
should perish in his sin, provided a remedy, by causing 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



53 



his Son to take our nature, and being, in one person, 
God and man, to become a mediator between God and 
man, and, by dying for our sins on the cross, to ransom 
us from the curse of God and the power of the devil. 
And having thus redeemed us, the Father hath de- 
livered us into his hands as his own. Hereupon the 
Father and the Mediator do make a new lav/ and cove- 
nant for man, not like the first, which gave life to none 
but the perfectly obedient, and condemned man for 
every sin ; but Christ hath made a law of grace, or a 
promise of pardon and everlasting life to all that, by 
true repentance, and by faith in Christ, are converted 
unto God ; like an act of oblivion, which is made by a 
prince to a company of rebels, on condition they will 
lay down arms and come in, and be loyal subjects for 
the time to come. 

But, because the Lord knoweth that the heart of 
man is grown so wicked, that, for all this, men will not 
accept of the remedy if they be left to themselves, 
therefore the Holy Ghost hath undertaken it as his 
office to inspire the Apostles, and seal up the Scriptures 
by miracles and wonders, and to illuminate and con- 
vert the souls of the elect. 

So by this much you see, that as there are three 
persons in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost, so each of these persons have their seve- 
ral works, which are eminently ascribed to them. 

The Father's works were, to create us, to rule us, 
as his rational creatures, by the law of nature, and 
judge us thereby ; and in mercy to provide us a Re- 
deemer when we were lost ; and to send his Son, and 
accept his ransom. 

The works of the Son for us were these : to ran- 
som and redeem us by his suffering and righteousness ; 
to give out the promise or law of grace, and rule and 
judge the world as their Redeemer, on terms of grace : 
and to make intercession for us, that the benefits of his 
death may be communicated ; and to send the Holy 
Ghost, which the Father also doth by the Son. 

The works of the Holy Ghost, for us, are these : to 
indite the holy Scriptures, by inspiring and guiding 
5* 



54 



A CALL TO 



the Apostles, and sealing the word, by his miraculous 
gifts and works, and the illuminating and exciting the 
ordinary ministers of the gospel, and so enabling them 
and helping them to publish that word ; and by the 
same word illuminating and converting the souls of 
men. So that as you could not have been reasonable 
creatures, if the Father had not created you, nor have 
had any access to God, if the Son had not redeemed 
you, so neither can you have a part in Christ, or be 
saved, except the Holy Ghost do sanctify you. 

So that by this time you may see the several causes 
of this work. The Father sendeth the Son : the Son 
redeems us and maketh the promise of grace: the 
Holy Ghost inditeth and sealeth this gospel : the Apos- 
tles are the secretaries of the Spirit to write it : the 
preachers of the gospel to proclaim it, and persuade 
men to open it : and the Holy Ghost doth make their 
preaching effectual, by opening the hearts of men to 
entertain it. And all this to repair the image of God 
upon the soul, and to set the heart upon God again, 
and take it off the creature and carnal self to which it 
is revolted, and so to turn the current of the life into 
a heavenly course, which before was earthly ; and all 
this by entertaining of Christ by faith, who is the Phy- 
sician of the soul. 

By what I have said, you may see what it is to be 
wicked, and what it is to be converted ; which, I think, 
will yet be plainer to you, if I describe them as con- 
sisting of their several parts. And for the first, a 
wicked man may be known by these three things : — 

First, He is one who placeth his chief affections on 
earth, and loveth the creature more than God, and his 
fleshly prosperity above the heavenly felicity. He 
savoureth the things of the flesh, but neither discern- 
eth nor savoureth the things of the Spirit ; though he 
will say, that heaven is better than earth, yet he doth 
not really so esteem it to himself. If he might be sure 
of earth, he would let go heaven, and had rather stay 
here than be removed thither. A life of perfect holi- 
ness in the sight of God, and in his love and praises 
for ever in heaven, doth not find such liking with his 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



5£ 



heart, as a life of health, and wealth, and honour here 
upon earth. And though he falsely profess that he 
loves God above all, yet indeed he never felt the power 
of divine love within him, but his mind is more set on 
the world or fleshly pleasures than on God. In a word, 
whoever loves earth above heaven, and fleshly prospe- 
rity more than God, is a wicked unconverted man. 

On the other hand, a converted man is illuminated 
to discern the loveliness of God, and so far believeth 
the glory that is to be had with God, that his heart is 
taken up with it and set more upon it than any thing 
in this world. He had rather see the face of God, and 
live in his everlasting love and praises, than have all 
the wealth or pleasures of the world. He seeth that 
all things else are vanity, and nothing but God can fill 
the soul ; and therefore let the world go which way it 
will, he layeth up his treasures and hopes in heaven, 
and for that he is resolved to let go all. As the fire 
doth mount upward, and the needle that is touched 
with the loadstone still turns to the north, so the con- 
verted soul is inclined unto God. Nothing else can 
satisfy him : nor can he find any content and rest but 
in his love. In a word, all that are converted do es- 
teem and love God better than all the world, and the 
heavenly felicity is dearer to them than their fleshly 
prosperity. The proof of what I have said, you may 
find in these places of Scripture : Phil. iii. 18, 21. Matt* 
vi. 19, 20, 21. Col. iii. 1—4. Rom. viii. 5—9, 18, 23.. 
Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26. 

Secondly, A wicked man is one that makes it the 
principal business of his life to prosper in the worlds 
and attain his fleshly ends. And though he may read,, 
and hear, and do much in the outward duties of reli- 
gion, and forbear disgraceful sins, yet this is all but by 
the by, and he never makes it the principal business of 
his life to please God, and attain everlasting glory, and 
puts off God with the leavings of the world, and gives 
him no more service than the flesh can spare, for he 
will not part with all for heaven. 

On the contrary, a converted man is one that makes 
it the principal care and business of his life to please 



i. CALL TO 



God, and to be saved, and takes all the blessings of 
this life but as accommodations in his journey towards 
another life, and useth the creature in subordination to 
God ; he loves a holy life, and longs to be more holy ; 
he hath no sin but what he hateth, and longeth, and 
prayeth, and striveth to be rid of. The drift and bent 
of his life is for God, and if he sin, it is contrary to the 
very bent of his heart and life ; and therefore he riseth 
again and lamenteth it, and dares not wilfully live in 
any known sin. There is nothing in this world so 
dear to him but he can give it up to God, and forsake 
it for him and the hopes of glory. All this you may 
see in Col. iii. 1—5. Matt. vi. 20, 33. Luke xviii. 22, 
23, 29. Luke xiv. 18, 24, 26, 27. Rom. viii. 13. Gal. 
v. 24. Luke xii. 21, &c. 

Thirdly. The soul of a wicked man did never truly 
discern and relish the mystery of redemption, nor 
thankfully entertain an offered Saviour, nor is he taken 
up with the love of -the Redeemer, nor willing to be 
ruled by him as the Physician of his soul, that he may 
be saved from the guilt and power of -his sins, and re- 
covered to God ; but his heart is insensible of this un- 
speakable benefit, and is quite against the healing means 
by which he should be recovered. Though he may 
be willing to be outwardly religious, yet he never re- 
signs up his soul to Christ, and to the motions and 
conduct of his word and Spirit. 

On the contrary, the converted soul having felt him- 
self undone by sin, and perceiving that he hath lost 
his peace with God and hopes of heaven, and is in 
danger of everlasting misery, doth thankfully entertain 
the tidings of redemption, and believing in the Lord 
Jesus as his only Saviour, resigns himself up to him 
for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- 
tion. He takes Christ as the life of his soul, and lives 
by him, and uses him as a salve for every sore, admir- 
ing the wisdom and love of God in this wonderful work 
of man's redemption. In a word, Christ doth even 
dwell in hisjieart by faith, and the life that he now liv- 
eth, is by the faith of the Son of God, that loved him, 
and gave himself for him ; yea, it is not so much he 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



57 



that liveth, as Christ in him. For these, see Job i, 11, 
12. and hi. 19, 20. Rom. viii. 9. Phil. hi. 7— 10. Gal. 
li. 20. Job xv. 2, 3, 4. 1 Cor. i. 20. ii. 2. 

You see now in plain terms from the Word of God, 
who are the wicked and who are the converted. Igno- 
rant people think, that if a man be no swearer, nor 
curse r, nor railer, nor drunkard, nor fornicator, nor ex- 
tortioner, nor wrong any body in his dealings, and if 
he come to church and say his prayers, he cannot be 
a wicked man. Or if a man that hath been guilty of 
drunkenness, swearing or gaming, or the like vices, do 
but forbear them for the time to come, they think 
that this is a converted man. Others think, if a man 
that hath been an enemy, and scorner at godliness, do 
but approve it, and be hated for it by the wicked, as 
the godly are, that this must needs be a converted man. 
And some are so foolish as to think that they are con- 
verted, by taking up some new opinion, and falling into 
some dividing party. And some think, if they have 
but been affrighted by the fears of hell, and had con- 
victions of conscience ; and thereupon have purposed 
and promised amendment, and take up a life of civil 
behaviour, and outward religion, that this must needs 
be true conversion. And these are the poor deluded 
souls that are like to lose the benefit of all our persua- 
sions ; and when they hear that the wicked must turn 
or die, they think that this is not spoken to them, for 
they are not wicked, but are turned already. And 
therefore it is that Christ told some of the rulers of the 
Jews who were greater and more civil than the com- 
mon people, that " publicans and harlots go into the 
kingdom of Christ before them." Matt. xxi. 31. Not 
that a harlot or gross sinner can be saved without con- 
version ; but because it was easier to make these gross 
sinners perceive their sin and misery, and the necessity 
of a change, than the more civil sort, who delude them- 
selves by thinking that they are converted already, 
when they are not. 

O, sirs, conversion is another kind of work than most 
are aware of. It is not a small matter to bring an 
earthly mind to heaven, and to show man the amiable 



A CALL TO 



excellencies of God, till he be taken up in such love to 
him that can never be quenched ; to break the heart 
for sin, and make him fly for refuge to Christ, and 
thankfully embrace him as the life of his soul ; to have 
the very drift and bent of the heart and life changed ; 
so that a man renounceth that which he took for his 
felicity, and placeth his felicity where he never did be- 
fore ; and lives not to the same end, and drives not on 
the same design in the world, as he formerly did. In 
a word, he that is in Christ is a " new creature : old 
things are passed away : behold, all things have be- 
come new." 2 Cor. v. 17. He hath a new under- 
standing, a new will and resolution, new sorrows, and 
desires, and love, and delight ; new thoughts, new 
speeches, new company, (if possible,) and a new con 
versation. Sin, that before was a jesting matter with 
him, is now so odious and terrible to him, that he flies 
from it as from death. The world, that was so lovely in 
his eyes, doth now appear but as vanity and vexation : 
God, that was before neglected, is now the only hap- 
piness of his soul : before he was forgotten, and every 
lust preferred before him, but now he is set next the 
heart, and all things must give place to him ; the heart 
is taken up in the attendance and observance of him, 
is grieved when he hides his face, and never thinks 
itself well without him. Christ himself, that was wont 
to be slightly thought of, is now his only hope and re- 
fuge, and he lives upon him as on his daily bread ; he 
cannot pray without him, nor rejoice without him, 
nor think, nor speak, nor live without him. Heaven 
itself, that before was looked upon but as a tolerable re- 
serve, which he hoped might serve his turn better than 
hell, when he could not stay any longer in the world, 
is now taken for his home, the place of his only hope 
and rest, where he shall see, and love, and praise that 
God that hath his heart already. Hell, that did seem 
hefore but as a bugbear to frighten men from sin, doth 
now appear to be a real misery, that is not to be ven- 
tured on, nor jested with. The works of holiness, of 
which before he was weary, and thought to be more 
than needful, are now both his recreation and his 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



59 



business, and the trade that he lives upon. The Bible, 
which was before to him but almost as a common book, 
is now as the law of God ; as a letter written to him, 
and subscribed with the name of the Eternal Majesty; it 
is the rule of his thoughts, and words, and deeds ; the 
commands are binding, the threats are dreadful, and 
the promises of it speak life to his soul. The godly, 
that seemed to him but like other men, are now the 
most excellent and happy on earth. And the wicked 
that were his playfellows, are now his grief ; and he 
that could laugh at their sins, is readier now to weep 
for their sin and misery : — Psalm xvi. 3. xv. 4. Phil, 
iii. 18. " but to the saints that are in the earth, and to 
the excellent, in whom is all my delight." " In whose 
eyes a vile person is contemned ; but he honoureth them 
that fear the Lord : he that sweareth to his own hurt, 
and changeth not." " For many walk, of whom I 
have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, 
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." In 
short, he hath a new end in his thoughts, and a new 
way in his endeavours, and therefore his heart and life 
are new. Before, his carnal self was his end, and his 
pleasure and worldly profits and credit were his way ; 
and now God and everlasting glory are his end, and 
Christ, and the Spirit, and word, and ordinances, 
Holiness to God, and righteousness and mercy to men, 
these are his way. Before, self was the chief ruler, to 
which the matters of God and conscience must stoop 
and give place ; and now God, in Christ, by the Spirit, 
word and ministry, is the chief ruler, to whom both sell 
and all the matters of self, must give place. So that, 
this is not a cha'nge in one, or two, or twenty points, 
but in the whole soul, and in the very end and bent of 
the conversation. A man may step out of one path 
into another, and yet have his face the same way, and 
be still going towards the same place ; but it is another 
matter to turn quite back, and take his journey quite 
the contrary way, to a contrary place. So it is here; 
a man may turn from drunkenness to thriftiness, and 
forsake his good fellowship, and other gross disgrace- 
ful sins, and set upon some duties of religion, and yet 



A CALL TO 



be still going to the same end as before, intending his 
carnal self above all, and giving it still the government 
of his soul ; but when he is converted, this self is denied, 
and taken down, and God is set up, and his face is 
turned the contrary way : and he that before was ad- 
dicted to himself, and lived to himself, is now, by sanc- 
tification, devoted to God, and liveth unto God. Be- 
fore, he asked himself what he should do with his time, 
his parts, and his estate, and for himself he used them; 
but now he asketh God what he shall do with them, 
and useth them for him. Before, he would please God 
so far as might accord with the pleasure of his flesh 
and carnal self, but not to any great displeasure of 
them ; but now he will please God, let flesh and self 
be never so much displeased. This is the great change 
that God will make upon all that shall be saved. 

You can say, that the Holy Ghost is our sanctifier ; 
but do you know what sanctification is? Why, this is 
what I have now opened to you ; and every man and 
woman in the world must have this, or be condemned to 
everlasting misery. They must turn or die. 

Do you believe all this, sirs, or do you not ? Surely 
you dare not say, you do not; for it is past a doubt or 
denial. These are not controversies, where one learn- 
ed pious man is of one mind, and another of another ; 
where one party saith this, and the other saith that. 
Every sect among us that deserve to be called Chris- 
tians, are all agreed in this that I have said ; and if you 
will not believe the God of truth, and that in a case 
where every sect and party do believe him, you are ut- 
terly inexcusable. 

But if you do believe this, how comes it to pass that 
you live so quietly in an unconverted state ? Do you 
know that you are converted ? and can you find this 
wonderful change upon your souls ? Have you been 
thus born again, and made new? Are not these strange 
matters to many of you, and such as you never felt 
within yourselves? If you cannot tell the day or 
week of your change, or the very sermon that convert- 
ed you, yet do you find that the work is done, and such 
a change indeed there is, and that you have such 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



61 



hearts as are before described ? Alas ! the most do fol- 
low their worldly business, and little trouble their minds 
with such thoughts. And if they be restrained from 
scandalous sins, and can say, " I am no whoremonger, 
nor thief, nor curser, nor swearer, nor tippler, nor ex- 
tortioner ; I go to church and say my prayers ;" they 
think that this is true conversion, and they shall be 
saved as well as any. Alas ! this is foolish cheating of 
yourselves. This is too much contempt of an endless 
glory, and too gross neglect of your immortal souls. 
Can you make so light of heaven and hell ? Your 
corpse will shortly lie in the dust, and angels or devils 
will presently seize upon your souls ; and every man 
or woman of you all will shortly be among other com- 
pany, and in other case than now you are. You will 
dwell in these houses but a little longer ; you will work 
in your shops and fields but a little longer; you 
will sit in these seats and dwell on this earth but a little 
longer ; you will see with these eyes, and hear with 
these ears, and speak with these tongues, but a little 
longer, till the resurrection-day ; and can you make 
shift to forget this ? O what a place will you shortly be 
in, of joy or torment! 0 what a sight will you shortly 
see in heaven or hell ! O what thoughts will shortly fill 
your hearts with unspeakable delight or horror ! What 
work will you be employed in ! to praise the Lord with 
saints and angels, or to cry out in fire unquenchable 
with devils ; and should all this be forgotten ? And all 
this will be endless, and sealed up by an unchangeable 
decree. Eternity, eternity will be the measure of your 
joys or sorrows : and can this be forgotten ? And all 
this is true, sirs, most certainly true. When you have 
gone up and down a little longer, and slept and awaked 
a few times more, you will be dead and gone, and find 
all true that now I tell you : and yet can you now so 
much forget it? You shall then remember that you 
heard this sermon, and that, this day or this place, you 
were reminded of these things, and perceive them mat- 
ters a thousand times greater than either you or I could 
here conceive; and yet shall they be now so much for- 
gotten ? 



A CALL TO 



Beloved friends, if the Lord had not awakened me 
to believe and to lay to heart these things myself, I 
should have remained in a dark and selfish state, and 
have perished for ever ; hut if he have truly made me 
sensible of them, it will constrain me to compassionate 
you as well as myself. If your eyes were so far opened 
as to see hell, and you saw your neighbours, that 
were unconverted, dragged thither with hideous cries ; 
though they were such as you accounted honest peo- 
ple on earth, and feared no such danger themselves, 
such a sight would make you go home and think of it, 
and think again, and make you warn all about you, as 
that lost worldling (Luke xvi. 28.) would have had his 
brethren warned, lest they come to that place or tor- 
ment. Why, faith is a kind of sight ; it is the eye of 
the soul, the evidence of things not seen. If I believe 
God, it is next to seeing ; and therefore I beseech you 
excuse me, if I be half as earnest with you about these, 
matters, as if I had seen them. If I must die to-mor 
row, and it were in my power to come again from 
another world, and tell you what I had seen, would 
you not be willing to hear me ? and would you not 
believe, and regard what I should tell you ? If I might 
preach one sermon to you after I am dead, and have 
seen what is done in the world to come, would you 
not have me plainly speak the truth, and would you 
not crowd to hear me, and would you not lay it to 
heart ? But this must not be ; God hath his appointed 
way of teaching you by Scriptures and ministers, and 
he will not humour unbelievers so far as to send men 
from the dead to them, and alter his established way ; 
if any man quarrel with the sun, God will not humour 
him so far as to set up a clearer light. Friends, I be- 
seech you regard me now, as you would do if I should 
come from the dead to you ; for I can give you as full 
assurance of the truth of what I say to you, as if I had 
been there and seen it with my eyes ; for it is possible 
for one from the dead to deceive you ; but Jesus Christ 
can never deceive you ; the Word of God delivered in 
Scripture, and sealed by miracles, and holy workings 
of the Spirit^ can never deceive you. Believe this ot 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



6S 



believe nothing. Believe and obey this, or you are 
undone. Now, as ever you believe the word of God, 
and as ever you care for the salvation of your souls, let 
me beg of you this reasonable request, and I beseech 
you deny me not : That you would, without any more 
delay, when you are gone from hence, remember what 
you have heard, and enter into an earnest search of 
your hearts, and say to yourselves — Is it so indeed ; 
must I turn or die ? Must I be converted or condemn- 
ed ? It is time for me then to look about me before it 
be too late. 0 why did not I look after this till now ? 
Why did I venturously put off or neglect so great a 
bu iness ? Was I awake, or in my wits ? O blessed 
God, what a mercy is it that thou didst not cut off my 
life all this while, before I had any certain hope of eter- 
nal life ! Well, God forbid that I should neglect this 
work any longer. What state is my soul in ? Am I 
converted, or am I not ? Was ever such a change or 
work done upon my soul ? Have I been illuminated by 
the word and Spirit of the Lord, to see the odiousness 
of sin, the need of a Saviour, the love of Christ, and the 
excellences of God and glory ? Is my heart broken or 
humbled within me, for my former life ? Have I thank- 
fully entertained my Saviour and Lord, that offered 
himself with pardon and life for my soul ? Do I hate 
my former sinful life, and the remnant of every sin that 
is in me? Do I fly from them as my deadly enemies? 
Do I give up myself to a life of holiness and obedience 
to God? Do I love it, and delight in it? Can I truly 
say that I am dead to the world, and carnal self, and 
that I live for God and the glory which he hath pro- 
mised? Hath heaven more of my estimation and reso- 
lution than earth ? And is God the dearest and highest 
in my soul? Once, I am sure, I lived principally to 
the world and flesh, and God had nothing but some 
heartless services, which the world could spare, and 
which were the leavings of the flesh. Is my heart 
now turned another way ? Have I a new design and a 
new end, and a new train of holy affections? Have I 
set my hopes and heart in heaven ? And is it not the 
scope, and design, and bent of my heart to get well to 



64 



A CALL TO 



heaven, and see the glorious face of God, and live in 
his love and praise ? And when I sin, is it against the 
hahitual bent and design of my heart? And do I con- 
quer ail gross sins, and am I weary and willing to be 
rid of my infirmities ? This is the state of converted 
souls. And thus it must be with me, or I must perish. 
Is it thus with me indeed, or is it not? It is time to get 
this doubt resolved before the dreadful Judge resolve it. 
I am not such a stranger to my own heart and life, but 
I may somewhat perceive whether I am thus converted 
or not : if I be not, it will do me no good to flatter my 
soul with false conceits and hopes. I am resolved no 
more to deceive myself, but endeavour to know truly 
whether I be converted or not : that if I be, I may re- 
joice in it, and glorify my gracious Lord, and com- 
fortably go on till I reach the crown : and if I am not, 
I may set myself to beg and seek after the grace that 
should convert me, and may turn without any more 
delay. For, if I find in time that I am out of the way, 
by the help of Christ I may turn and be recovered ; 
but if I stay till either my heart be forsaken of God in 
blindness or hardness, or till I be catched away by 
death, it is then too late. There is no place for re- 
pentance and conversion then ; I know it must be now 
or never. 

Sirs, this is my request to you, that you will but 
take your hearts to task, and thus examine them, till 
you see, if it may be, whether you are converted or 
not? And if you cannot find it out by your own en- 
deavours, go to your ministers, if they be faithful and 
experienced men, and desire their assistance. The 
matter is great ; let not bashfulness, nor carelessness 
hinder you. They are set over you, to advise you, for 
the saving of your soul, as physicians advise you for 
the curing of your bodies. It undoes many thousands 
that they think they are in the way to salvation, when 
they are not; and think that they are converted when 
it is no such thing. And, then, when we call to them 
daily to turn, they go away as they came, and think 
that this concerns not them; lor they are turned 
already, and hope they shall do well enough in the way 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



6-5 



that they are in, at least if they pick the fairest path, 
and avoid some of the foulest steps., when, alas ! all 
this while they live hut to the world and flesh, and are 
strangers to God and eternal life ; and are quite out of 
the way to heaven. And all this because we cannot 
persuade them to a few serious thoughts of their con- 
dition, and to spend a few hours in the examining of 
their states. Are there not many self-deceivers who 
hear me this day, that never bestowed one hour, or 
quarter of an hour, in all their lives, to examine their 
souls, and try whether they are truly converted or not ? 
O merciful God, that will care for such wretches that 
care no more for themselves, and that will do so much 
to save them from hell, and help them to heaven, who 
will do so little for it themselves ! If all that are in the 
way to hell, and in the state of damnation, did but 
know it, they durst not continue in it. The greatest 
hope that the devil hath of bringing you to damnation 
without a rescue, is by keeping you blindfold, and 
ignorant of your state, and making you believe that 
you may do well enough in the way that you are in. 
If you knew that you were out of the way to heaven, 
and were lost for ever if you should die as you are ; 
durst you sleep another night in the state that you are 
in? Durst you live another day in it? Could you 
heartily laugh, or be merry in such a state ? What ! 
And not know but you may be snatched away to hell 
in an hour? Sure it would constrain you to forsake 
your former company and courses, and to betake your- 
selves to the ways of holiness, and the communis of 
saints. Sure it would drive you to cry to God for a 
new heart, and to seek help of those that are fit to 
counsel you. There are none of you that cares not 
for being damned. Well, then I beseech you presently 
make inquiry into your hearts, and give them no rest 
till you find out your condition, that if it be good, you 
may rejoice in it. and go on ; and if it be bad, you may 
presently look about you for recovery, as men that be- 
lieve they must turn or die. What say you, sirs, will 
you resolve and promise to be at thus much labour for 
your own souls? Will you fall upon this self-exami- 
6* 



66 



A CALL TO 



nation when you come home ? Is my request unrea- 
sonable ? Your consciences know it is not. Resolve 
on it, then, before you stir ; knowing how much it con- 
cerneth your souls. I beseech you, for the sake oi 
that God that doth command you, at whose bar you 
will all shortly appear, that you do not deny me this 
reasonable request. For the sake of those souls that 
must turn or die. I beseech you deny me not ; but make 
it your business to understand your own conditions, 
and build upon sure ground, and know whether you 
are converted or not ; and venture not your souls on 
negligent security. 

But perhaps you will say, c What if we should find 
ourselves yet unconverted, what shall we do then ? 5 
This question leads me to my second Doctrine ; which 
will do much to the answering of it, to which I now 
proceed. 

Doctrine 2. It is the promise of God, that the 
wicked shall live, if they will but turn, unfeignedly 
and thoroughly turn. 

The Lord here professeth that this is what he takes 
pleasure in, that the wicked turn and live. Heaven is 
made as sure to the converted, as hell is to the uncon- 
verted. Turn and live, is as certain a truth as turn or 
die. God was not bound to provide us a Saviour, nor 
open to us a door of hope, nor call us to repent and 
turn, when once we had cast ourselves away by sin. 
But he hath freely done it to magnify his mercy. Sin- 
ners, there are none of you shall have cause to go home, 
and say I preach desperation to you. Do we use to 
shut the door of mercy against you? O that you 
would not shut it up against yourselves ! Do we use 
to tell you that God will have no mercy on you, though 
you turn and be sanctified ? When did you ever hear 
a preacher say such a word? You that cavil at the 
preachers of the gospel, for desiring to keep you out 
of hell, and say, that they preach desperation ; tell me 
if you can, when did you ever hear any sober man say, 
that there is no hope for you, though you repent, and 



THE UNCONVERTED, 



67 



be converted ? No, it is the direct contrary that we 
daily proclaim from the Lord ; and whoever is born 
again, and by faith and repentance doth become a new 
creature, shall certainly be saved ; and so far are we 
from persuading you to despair of this, that we per- 
suade you not to make any doubt of it. It is life, not 
death, that is the first part of our message to you ; our 
commission is to offer salvation, certain salvation ; a 
speedy, glorious, everlasting salvation, to every one of 
you ; to the poorest beggar as well as the greatest lord ; 
to the worst of you, even to drunkards, swearers, 
worldlings, thieves, yea, to the despisers and reproach- 
ers of the holy way of salvation. We are commanded 
by the Lord our Master, to offer you a pardon for all 
that is past, if you will but now at last return and live ; 
we are commanded to beseech and entreat you to ac- 
cept the offer, and return ; to tell you what preparation 
is made by Christ; what mercy stays for you ; what 
patience waiteth for you ; what thoughts of kindness 
God hath towards you ; and how happy, how certainly 
and unspeakably happy you may be if you will. We 
have indeed also a message of wrath and death, yea, 
of a twofold wrath and death ; but neither of them is 
our principal message. We must tell you of the wrath 
that is on you already, and the death that you are born 
under, for the breach of the law of works; but this is 
but to show you the need of mercy, and to provoke 
you to esteem the grace of the Redeemer. And we 
tell you nothing but the truth, which you must know ; 
for who will seek for physic that knows not that he is 
sick? Our telling you of your misery, is not that 
which makes you miserable, but driveth you out to seek 
for mercy. It is you that have brought this death upon 
yourselves. We tell you also of another death, even 
remediless, and much greater torment, that will fall on 
those that will not be converted. But as this is true, 
and must be told you, so it is but the last and saddest 
part of our message. We are first to offer you mercy, 
if you will turn ; and it is only those that will not turn, 
nor hear the voice of mercy, to whom we must fore- 
tell damnation. Will you but cast away your trans- 



6S 



A CALL TO 



gressions, delay no longer, but come away at the call 
of Christ, and be converted, and become new crea- 
tures, and we have not a word of damning wrath or 
death to speak against you. I do here, in the name of 
the Lord of Life, proclaim to you all that hear me this 
day, to the worst of you, to the greatest, to the oldest 
sinner, that you may have mercy and salvation, if 
you will but turn. There is mercy in God, there is 
sufficiency in the satisfaction of Christ, the promise is 
free, and full, and universal; you may have life, if you 
will but turn. But then, as you love your souls, re- 
member what turning it is that the Scripture speaks of. 
It is not to mend the old house, but to pull down all, 
and build anew on Christ, the Rock, and sure founda- 
tion. It is not to mend somewhat in a carnal course ot 
life, but to mortify the flesh, and live after the Spirit. 
It is not to serve the flesh and the world, in a more 
reformed way, without any scandalous disgraceful sins, 
and with a certain kind of religiousness ; but it is to 
change your master, and your works, and end ; and 
to set your face the contrary way, and do all for the 
life that you never saw, and dedicate yourselves and 
all you have to G od. This is the change that must be 
made, if you will live. 

Yourselves are witnesses now, that it is salvation, 
and not damnation, that is the great doctrine I preach 
to you, and the first part of my message to you. Ac- 
cept of this, and we shall go no further with you ; for 
we would not so much as affright, or trouble you with 
the name of damnation, without necessity. 

But if you will not be saved, there is no remedy, but 
damnation must take place ; for there is no middle place 
between the two ; you must have either life or death. 

And we are not only to offer you life, but to show 
you the grounds on which we do it, and call you to 
believe that God doth mean, indeed, as he speaks ; that 
the promise is true, and extended conditionally to you, 
as well as others ; and that heaven is no fancy, but a 
true felicity. 

If you ask, Where is your commission for this offer? 



THE UNCONVERTED, 



69 



Among a hundred texts of scripture, I will show it to 
you in these few : 

First, You see it here in my text, and the following 
verses, and in the 18th of Ezekiei, as plain as can be 
spoken; and in 2 Cor. v. 17 — 21, you have the very 
sum of our commission ; " If any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature : old things are passed away ; be- 
hold, all things are become new. And all things are 
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus 
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconcilia- 
tion ; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the 
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to 
them, and hath committed unto us the word of recon- 
ciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, 
as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you 
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God. For he 
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that 
we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 
So Mark xvi. 15, 16. " Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth, 
(that is, with such a converting faith as is expressed,) 
and is baptized, shall be saved ; and he that believeth 
not, shall be damned." And Luke xxiv. 46, 47. " Thus 
it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead 
the third day : and that repentance (which is conver- 
sion) and remission of sins should be preached in his 
name among all nations." And, Acts v. 30, 31. " The 
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, 
and hanged on a tree : him hath God exalted with his 
right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give re- 
pentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." And 
Acts xiii. 38, 39. " Be it known unto you, therefore, 
men and brethren, that through this man is preached 
unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that 
believe are justified from all things, from which ye 
could not be justified by the law of Moses." And lest 
you think this offer is restrained to the Jews, see Gal. 
vi. 15. "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision 
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new 
creature." And Luke xiv. 17. " Come, for all things 
are now ready." 



70 



A CiLL TO 



1 You see by this time that we are commanded to 
offer life to you all, and to tell you from God, That if 
you will turn, you may live. 

Here you may safely trust your souls ; for the love 
of God is the fountain of this offer, (John iii. 16,) and 
the blood of the Son of God hath purchased it ; the 
faithfulness and truth of God is engaged to make the 
promise good ; miracles oft sealed the truth of it ; 
preachers are sent through the world to proclaim it; 
the sacraments are instituted and used for the solemn 
delivery of the mercy offered to them that will accept 
it; and the Spirit doth open the heart to entertain it, 
and is itself the earnest of the full possession. So that 
the truth of it is past controversy, that the worst ot 
you all, and every one of you, if you will but be con- 
verted, may be saved. 

Indeed, if you will needs believe that you shall be 
saved without conversion, then you believe a falsehood ; 
and if I should preach that to you, I should preach a 
lie. This were not to believe God, but the devil and 
your own deceitful hearts. God hath his promise ot 
life, and the devil hath his promise of life. God's pro 
mise is, Return and live. The devil's promise is, You 
shall live whether you turn or not. The words of God 
are, as I have showed you, " Except ye be converted 
and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." Matt, xviii. 3. " Except a man 
be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom ot 
God." John iii. 3, 5. " Without holiness none shall 
see God." Heb. xii. 14. The devil's word, " You 
may be saved without being born again and converted ; 
you may do well enough without being holy, God doth 
but frighten you ; he is more merciful than to do as he 
saith, he will be better to you than his word." And, 
alas, the greatest part of the world believe this word 
of the devil, before the word of God ; just as our sin 
and misery came into the world. God said to our first 
parents, " If ye eat ye shall die ;" and the devil con- 
tradicted him, and said, " Ye shall not die :" and the 
woman believed the devil before God. So now the 
Lord saith Turn or die: and the ^evil saith You 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



71 



shall not die, if you do but cry for God's mercy at last, 
and give over the acts of sin when you can practice it 
no longer. And this is the word that the world be- 
lieves. O heinous wickedness, to believe the devil 
^ fore God. 

nd yet that is not the worst ; but blasphemously 
they call this a believing and trusting in God, when, 
they put him in the shape of Satan, who was a liar 
from the beginning ; and when they believe that the 
word of God is a lie, they call this a trusting God and 
say they believe in him, and trust in him for salvation. 
Where did ever God say, that the unregenerate, un- 
converted, unsanctified, shall be saved ? Show me such 
a word in Scripture. I challenge you if you can. 
Why, this is the devil's word, and to believe it, is to be- 
lieve the devil, and the sin that is commonly called 
presumption; and do you call this a believing and 
trusting in God ? There is enough in the word of God 
to comfort and strengthen the heart of the sanctified ; 
but not a word to strengthen the hands of wickedness, 
nor to give men the least hope of being saved, though 
they be never sanctified. 

But if you will turn, and come into the way of mercy, 
the mercy of the Lord is ready to entertain you. Then 
trust God for salvation, boldly and confidently ; for he 
is engaged by his word to save you. He will be a 
father to none but his children ; and he will save none 
but those that forsake the world, the devil, and the 
flesh, and come into his family to be members of his 
Son, and have communion with his saints. But if 
they will not come in, it is the fault of themselves : his 
doors are open; he keeps none back; he never sent 
such a message as this to any of you, c It is now too 
late ; I will not receive thee, though thou be converted.' 
He might have done so and done you no wrong ; but 
he did not ; he doth not to this day. He is still ready 
to receive you, if you were but ready unfeignedly, and 
with all your hearts, to turn. And the fulness of this 
truth will yet more appear in the two following doc- 
trines, which I shall therefore next proceed to, before I" 
make any further application of this. 



72 A CALL TO 

Doctrine 3. God taketh pleasure in men's conver- 
sion and salvation, but not in their death or damna- 
tion. He had rather they would turn and live, than 
go on and die. 

I shall first teach you how to understand this, and 
then clear up the truth of it to you. 

And for the first, you must observe these following 
things : 1. A simple willingness or complacency is the 
first act of the will following the single apprehension 
of the understanding, before it proceedeth to compare 
things together ; but the choosing act of the will is a 
following act, and supposeth the comparing practical 
act of the understanding ; and these two acts may 
often be carried to contrary objects, without any fault 
at all in the person. 

2. An unfeigned willingness may have divers de- 
grees ; some things I am so far willing of as that I will 
do all that lieth in my power to accomplish it, and some 
things I am truly willing another should do, when yet 
I will not do all that I am ever able to procure it, hav- 
ing many reasons to dissuade me therefrom, though 
yet I will do all that belongs to me to do. 

3. The will of a ruler, as such, is manifested hi 
making and executing laws ; but the will of man in 
his simple natural capacity, or as absolute lord of his 
own, is manifested in desiring or resolving of events. 

4. A ruler's will, as lawgiver, is first and principally 
that his laws be obeyed, and not at all that the penalty 
be executed on any, but only on supposition that they 
will not obey his laws ; but a ruler's will, as judge, sup- 
poseth the law already either kept or broken, and 
therefore he resolveth our reward or punishment ac- 
cordingly. 

Having given you those necessary distinctions, I 
shall next apply them to the case in hand, in these 
following propositions : — 

1. It is in the glass of the word and creatures, that 
in this life we must know God ; and so according to 
the nature of man we ascribe to him understanding 
and will, removing all the imperfections that we can, 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



because we are capable of no higher positive concep- 
tions of him. 

2. And on the same grounds we do, with the Scrip- 
ture, distinguish "between the acts of God's will, as 
diversified from the respects or the objects, though as 
to God's essence they are all one. 

3. And the bolder, because that when we speak of 
Christ, we have the more ground for it from his human 
nature. 

4. And thus we say, that the simple complacency, 
will, or love of God, is to all that is naturally or mo- 
rally good, according to the nature and degree of its 
goodness, and so he hath pleasure in the conversion 
and salvation of all, which yet will never come to pass. 

5. And God, as Ruler and Lawgiver of the world, 
had so far a practical will for their salvation, as to make 
them a free deed of gift of Christ and life, and an act 
of oblivion for all their sins, so be if they will not un- 
thankfully reject it ; and to command his messengers 
to offer this gift to all the world, and persuade them 
to accept it. And so he doth all that, as Lawgiver or 
Promiser, belongs to him to do for their salvation. 

6. But yet he resolveth, as Lawgiver, that they that 
will not turn shall die ; and as Judge, when their day 
of grace is past, he will execute that decree. 

7. So that he thus unfeignedly willeth the conversion 
of those that never will be converted, but not as abso- 
lute Lord with the fullest efficacious resolution, nor as 
a thing which he resolveth shall undoubtedly come to 
pass, or would engage all his power to accomplish. It 
is in the power of a prince to set a guard upon a mur- 
derer, to see that he shall not murder, and be hanged ; 
but it, upon good reason, be forbear this, and do but 
send to his subjects to warn and entreat them not 
to be murderers, I hope he may well say that he would 
not have them murder and be hanged; he takes no 
pleasure in it, but rather that they forbear and live, and 
if he do more for some upon some special reason, he is 
not bound to do so by all. The king may well say to all 
murderers and felons in the land, 4 1 have no pleasure 
in your death, but rather that you would obey my 



74 



A CALL TO 



laws and live ; but if you will not, I am resolved, for 
all this, that you shall die. 5 The judge may truly say 
to a thief, or the murderer, £ Alas, I have no delight 
in thy death ; I had rather thou hadst kept the law 
and saved thy life ; but seeing thou hast not, I must 
condemn thee, or else I should be unjust.' So, though 
God have no pleasure in your damnation, and there- 
fore calls upon you to return and live, yet he hath plea- 
sure in the demonstration of his own justice, and the 
executing his laws ; and therefore he is, for all this, 
fully resolved, that if you will not be converted, you 
shall be condemned. If God was so much against the 
death of the wicked, as that he were resolved to do all 
that he can to hinder it, then no man shall be con- 
demned ; whereas Christ telle th you, that few will be 
saved. But so far God is against your damnation, a3 
that he will teach you, and warn you, and set before 
you life and death, and offer you your choice, and com- 
mand his ministers to entreat you not to destroy your- 
selves, but accept his mercy, and so to leave you 
without excuse. But if this will not do, and if still you 
be unconverted, he professeth to 3 r ou, he is resolved on 
your damnation, and hath commanded us to say to you 
in his name, verse 8, " O wicked man, thou shalt surely 
die !" And Christ hath little less than sworn it, over 
and over, with a " Verily, verily, except ye be con- 
verted and born a^ain, ye cannot enter into the king- 
dom of heaven." Matt, xviii. 3. John hi. 3. Mark that 
he saith " you cannot. 55 It is in vain to hope for it, 
and in vain to dream that God is willing for it : for it is 
a thing that cannot be. 

In a word, you see then the meaning of the text;, 
that God, the great Lawgiver of the world, doth take 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that 
they turn and live ; though yet he be resolved that 
none shall live but those that turn ; and as a judge even 
delighteth in justice, and manifesting his hatred of sin, 
though not in their misery, which they have brought 
upon themselves, in itself considered. 

And for the proofs of the point, I shall be very brief 
in them, because I suppose you easily believe it already*. 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



n 



1. The very gracious nature of God proclaimed: 
4i And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, 
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- 
suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and trans- 
gression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the 
guilty (Exod. xxiv. 6. and xxvi. 6.) and frequently 
elsewhere, may assure you of this, That he hath no 
pleasure in your death. 

2. If God had more pleasure in thy death, than in 
thy conversion and life, he would not have so fre- 
quently commanded thee in his word, to turn; he 
would not have made thee such promises of life, if thou 
wilt but turn ; he would not have persuaded thee to it 
by so many reasons. The tenor of his gospel proveth 
the point. 

3. And his commission that he hath given to the 
ministers of the gospel, doth fully prove it. If God 
had taken more pleasure in thy damnation, than in thy 
conversion and salvation, he would never have charged 
us to offer you mercy, and to teach you the way of life, 
both publicly and privately : and to entreat and be- 
seech you to turn and live ; to acquaint you with your 
sins, and foretell you of your danger ; and to do all that 
possibly we can for your conversion, and to continue pa- 
tiently so doing, though you should hate or abuse us 
for our pains. Would God have done this, and ap- 
pointed his ordinances for your good, if he had taken 
pleasure in your death ? 

4. It is proved also by the course of his providence. 
If God had rather you were damned than converted 
and saved, he would not second his word with his 
works, and entice you by his daily kindness to himself, 
and give you all the mercies of this life, which are his 
means " to lead you to repentance," (Rom. ii. 4.) and 
bring you so often under his rod to lead you to your 
senses; he would not set so many examples before 
your eyes, no, nor wait on you so patiently as he does 
from day to day, and year to year. These are not 
signs of one that taketh pleasure in your death. If this 
had been his delight, how easily could he have had 



76 A CALL TO 

thee long ago in hell ? How oft, before this, could he 
have catched thee away in the midst of thy sins, with 
a curse, or oath, or lie in thy mouth, in thy ignorance, 
and pride, and sensuality ? When thou wert last-in thy 
drunkenness, or last deriding the ways of God, how 
easily could he have stopped thy breath, and tamed 
thee with plagues, and made thee sober in another 
world ? Alas ! how small a matter is it for the Almighty 
to rule the tongue of the profanest railer, and tie the 
hands of the most malicious persecutor, or calm the 
fury of the bitterest of his enemies, and make them 
know that they are but worms ? If he should but frown 
upon thee, thou wouldst drop into thy grave. If he 
gave commission to one of his angels to go and destroy 
ten thousand sinners, how quickly would it be done ! 
how easily can he lay thee upon the bed of languish- 
ing, and make thee lie roaring there in pain, and make 
thee eat the words of reproach which thou hast spoken 
against his servants, his word, his worship, and his holy 
ways, and make thee send to beg their prayers whom 
thou didst despise in thy presumption ? How easily can 
he lay triat flesh under pains, and groans, and make it 
too weak to hold thy soul, and make it more loathsome 
than the dung of the earth? That flesh which now 
must have what it loves, and must not be displeased, 
though God be displeased ; and must be humoured in 
meat, and drink, and clothes, whatever God say to the 
contrary, how quickly would the frowns of God con- 
sume it ? "When thou wast passionately defending thy 
sin, and quarrelling with them that would have drawn 
thee from it, and showing thy spleen against the re- 
prover, and pleading for the works of darkness ; how 
easily could God have snatched thee away in a mo- 
ment, and set thee before his dreadful Majesty, where 
thou shouldst see ten thousand times ten thousand 
glorious angels waiting on his throne, and have called 
thee there to plead thy cause, and asked thee, ' What 
hast thou now to say against thy Creator, his truth, his 
servants, or his holy ways ? Now plead thy cause, and 
make the best of it thou canst. Now what canst thou 
say in excuse of thy sins ? Now give account of thy 



THE UNCONVERTED* 77 

worldliness and fleshy life, of thy time, of all the mercies 
thou hast had. 5 0 how thy stuhhorn heart would 
have melted, and thy proud looks be taken down, and 
thy countenance he appalled, and thy stout words turn- 
ed into speechless silence, or dreadful cries, if God had 
but set thee thus at his bar, and pleaded his own cause 
with thee, which thou hast here so maliciously pleaded 
against ! How easily can he at any time say to thy 
guilty soul, Come away, and live in that flesh no more 
till the resurrection; and it cannot resist! A word of 
his mouth would take off the poise of thy present life, 
and theu all thy parts and powers would stand still; 
and if he say unto thee, Live no longer, or, live in hell, 
thou couldst not disobey. 

But God hath yet done none of this, but hath pa- 
tiently forborne thee, and mercifully upheld thee, and 
given thee that breath, which thou didst breathe out 
against him, and given those mercies which thou didst 
sacrifice to thy flesh, and afforded thee that provision 
which thou spentest to satisfy thy greedy throat : he 
gave thee every minute of that time which thou didst 
waste in idleness, or drunkenness, or worldliness ; and 
doth not all his patience and mercy show that he de- 
sired not thy damnation ? Can the candle burn without 
the oil? Can your houses stand without the earth to 
bear them ? No more can you live an hour without 
the support of God. And why did he so long support 
thy life, but to see when thou wouldst bethink thee of 
the folly of thy ways, and return and live? Will any 
man purposely put arms into his enemy's hands to re- 
sist him, or hold a candle to a murderer that is killing 
his children, or to an idle servant that plays or sleeps 
the while ? Surely it is to see whether thou wilt at 
last return and live, that God hath so long waited on 
thee. 

5. It is further proved by the suffering of his Son, 
that God taketh no pleasure in the death of the wicked. 
Would he have ransomed them from death at so dear 
a rate ? Would he have astonished angels and men by 
his condescension? Would God have dwelt in flesh, 
and have come in the form of a servant, and have as- 
7* 



78 



A CALL TO 



sumed humanity into one person with the Godhead ; 
and would Christ have lived a life of suffering, and 
died a cursed death for sinners, if he had rather taken 
leasure in their death ? Suppose you saw him but so 
usy in preaching and healing of them, as you find him 
in Mark iii. 21 ; or so long in fasting, as in Matt. iv. ; or 
all night in prayer, as in Luke vi. 12; or praying with 
the drops of hlood trickling from him instead of sweat, 
as Luke xxii. 44 ; or suffering a cursed death upon the 
cross, and pouring out his soul as a sacrifice for our 
sins — would you have thought these the signs of one 
that delighted in the death of the wicked ? 

And think not to extenuate it by saying, that it was 
only for his elect : for it was thy sin, and the sin of all the 
world, that lay upon our Redeemer : and his sacrifice 
and satisfaction is sufficient for all, and the fruits of it 
are offered to one as well as another. But it is true, 
that it was never the intent of his mind to pardon and 
save any that would not, by faith and repentance, be 
converted. If you had seen and heard him weeping 
and bemoaning the state of disobedience in impenitent 
people : Luke xix. 41, 42. " And when he was come 
near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If 
thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, 
the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they 
are hid from thine eyes. 5 ' Or complaining of their 
stubbornness, as Matt, xxiii. 37. " 0 Jerusalem, Jeru- 
salem, how often would I have gathered thy children 
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not !" Or if you had seen 
and heard him on the cross, praying for his persecu- 
tors — Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do — would you have suspected that he had de- 
lighted in the death of the wicked, even of those that 
perish by their wilful unbelief? When God hath so 
loved, (not only loved, but so loved,) as to give his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth in him 
(by an effectual faith) should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life, I think he hath hereby proved, against the 
malice of men and devils, that he takes no pleasure in 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



79 



the death of the wicked, hut had rather that they would 
c turn and live." 

6. Lastly, if all this will not yet satisfy you, take his 
own word, that knoweth hest his own mind, or at least 
believe his oath: but this leads me to the fourth doc- 
trine. 

Doctrine 4. The Lord hath confirmed to us by his 
oath, that he hath no pleasure in the death of the 
wicked, hut rather that he turn and live ; that he 
may leave man no pretence to question the truth 
of it. 

Tf you dare question his word, I hope you dare not 
question his oath. As Christ hath solemnly protested 
that the unregenerate and unconverted cannot enter 
into the kingdom of heaven (Matt, xviii. 3. John hi. 3 ;) 
so God hath sworn that his pleasure is not in their death, 
but in their conversion and life. And as the Apostle 
saith, (Heb. iv. 13 — 18,) Because he can swear by no 
greater, he sware by himself. c For men verily swear by 
the greater : and an oath for confirmation is to them an 
end of strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly 
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of 
his counsel, confirmed it by an oath ; that by two im- 
mutable things in which it was impossible for God to 
lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled 
for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us : which 
hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and 
steadfast.' If there be any man that cannot reconcile 
this truth with the doctrine of predestination, or the 
actual damnation of the wicked, that is his own igno- 
rance ; he hath no pretence left to question or deny 
therefore the truth of the point in hand ; for this is 
confirmed by the oath of God, and therefore must not 
be distorted, to reduce it to other points : but doubtful 
points must rather be reduced to it, and certain truths 
must be believed to agree with it, though our shallow 
minds hardly discern the agreement. 



Use. — I do now entreat thee, if thou be an uncon- 



80 



A CALL TO 



verted sinner that nearest these words, that thou 
wouldst ponder a little upon the forementioned doc- 
trines, and bethink thyself awhile, who it is that takes 
pleasure in thy sin and damnation. Certainly, it is not 
God : he hath sworn for his part that he takes no plea- 
sure in it. And I know it is not the pleasing of him 
that you intend. You dare not say that you drink, 
and swear, and neglect holy duties, and quench the 
motions of the Spirit to please God. That were as if 
you should reproach the prince, and break his laws, 
and seek his death, and say, you did all this to please 
him. 

Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin and 
death ? Not any that bear the image of God, for they 
must be like minded to him. God knows, it is small 
pleasure to your faithful teachers to see you serve your 
deadly enemy, and madly venture your eternal state, 
and wilfully run into the flames of hell. It is small 
pleasure to them to see upon your souls (in the sad 
effects) such blindness, and hard-heartedness, and care- 
lessness, and presumption ; such wilfulness in evil, and 
such unteachableness and stiffness against the ways of 
life and peace ; they know these are marks of death, 
and of the wrath of God, and they know, from the 
word of God, what is like to be the end of them, and 
therefore it is no more pleasure to them, than to a 
tender physician to see the plague-marks broke out 
upon his patient. Alas, to foresee your everlasting 
torments, and know not how to prevent them ! To see 
how near you are to hell, and we cannot make you 
believe it and consider it. To see how easily, how 
certainly you might escape, if we knew but how to 
make you willing. How fair you are for everlasting 
salvation, if you would turn and do your best, and 
make it the care and business of your lives! but you 
will not do it; if our lives lay on it, we cannot per- 
suade you to it. We study day and night what to say 
to you, that may convince and persuade you, and yet 
it is undone : we lay before you the word of God, and 
show you the very chapter and verse where it is Writ- 
ten, that you cannot be saved except you be converted ; 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



SI 



and yet we leave the most of you as we find you. We 
hope you will believe the word of God, though you 
believe not us, and regard it when we show you the 
plain scripture for it ; but we hope in vain, and labour 
in vain as to any saving change upon your hearts! 
And do you think that this is a pleasant thing to us ? 
Many a time, in secret prayer, we are fain to complain 
to God with sad hearts, c Alas, Lord, we have spoken 
to them in thy name, but they little regard us : we 
have told them what thou bidst us tell them concerning 
the danger of an unconverted state, but they do not 
believe us : we have told them that thou hast protested 
that there is no peace to the wicked.' Isa. xlviii. 2, 
and lvii. 21. £ But the worst of them all will scarcely 
believe that they are wicked ; we have showed them 
thy word, where thou hast said, that if they live after 
the flesh they shall die.' Rom. viii. 13. c But they say 
they will believe in thee, when they will not believe 
thee, and that they will trust in thee, when they give 
no credit to thy word ; and when they hope that the 
threatenings of thy word are false, they will yet call 
this a hoping in God ; and though we show them where 
thou hast said, that when a wicked man dieth, all his 
hopes perish, yet cannot we persuade them from their 
deceitful hopes.' Prov. xi. 7. £ We tell them what a 
base, unprofitable thing sin is ; but they love it, and 
therefore will not leave it. We tell them how dear 
they buy this pleasure, and what they must pay for it 
in everlasting torment; and they bless themselves, and 
will not believe it, but will do as the most do : and be- 
cause God is merciful, they will not believe him, but 
will venture their souls, come on it what will. We tell 
them how ready the Lord is to receive them, and this 
doth but make them delay their repentance and be 
bolder in their sin. Some of them say they purpose 
to repent, but they are still the same ; and some say 
they do repent already, while yet they are not con- 
verted from their sins. We exhort them, we entreat 
them, we offer them our help, but we cannot prevail 
with them ; but they that were drunkards, are drunk- 
ards still ; and they that were voluptuous flesh-pleasing 



82 



A CALL TO 



wretches, are such still ; and they that were world- 
lings, are worldlings still ; and they that were ignorant, 
and proud, and self-conceited, are so still. Few of 
them will see and confess their sin, and fewer will for- 
sake it, hut comfort themselves that all men are sinners, 
as if there were no difference between a converted 
sinner and an unconverted. Some of them will not 
come near us, when we are willing to instruct them, 
but think they know enough already, and need not our 
instruction; and some of them will give us the hear- 
ing, and do what they list ; and most of them are like 
dead men that cannot feel ; so that when we tell them 
of the matters of everlasting consequence, we cannot 
get a word of it to their hearts. If we do not obey 
them, and humour them in baptizing the children of 
the most obstinately wicked, and giving them the Lord's 
Supper, and doing all that they would have us, though 
never so much against the word of God, they will hate 
us, and rail at us ; but if we beseech them to confess, 
and forsake their sins, and save their souls, they will 
not do it. We tell them, if they will but turn, we will 
deny them none of the ordinances of God, neither 
baptism to their children, nor the Lord's Supper to 
themselves, but they will not hear us ; they would 
have us disobey God and damn our own souls, to please 
them ; and yet they will not turn and save their own 
souls to please God. They are wiser in their own 
eyes than all their teachers ; they rage and are confi- 
dent in their own way, and if we were never so fain, 
we cannot change them. Lord, this is the case of our 
miserable neighbours, and we cannot help it ; we see 
them ready to drop into hell, and we cannot help it ; 
we know if they would unfeignedly turn, they might 
be saved, but we cannot persuade them ; if we would 
beg it of them on our knees, we cannot persuade them 
to it ; if we would beg it of them with tears, we can- 
not persuade them ; and what more can we do ? 

These are the secret complaints and moans that 
many a poor minister is fain to make. And do you 
think that he hath any pleasure in this? Is it a pleasure 
to him to see you go on in sin, and cannot stop you? 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



88 



to see you so miserable, and cannot so much as make 
you sensible of it ? to see you merry, when you are not 
sure to be an hour out of hell? to think what you must 
for ever suffer, because you will not turn? and to think 
what an everlasting life of glory you wilfully despise 
and cast away ? What sadder thing can you bring to 
their hearts, and how can you devise to grieve them 
more ? 

Who is it then that you please by your sin and 
death ? It is none of your understanding godly friends. 
Alas, it is the grief of their souls to see your misery, 
and they lament you many a time when you give them 
little thanks for it, and when you have not hearts to 
lament yourselves. 

Who is it then that takes pleasure in your sin ? It 
is none but three great enemies of God, whom you re- 
nounced in your baptism, and now are turned falsely 
to serve. 

1. The devil indeed takes pleasure in your sin and 
death : for this is the very end of all his temptations ; 
for this he watches night and day ; you cannot devise 
to please him better than to go on in sin. How glad 
is he when he sees thee going into the alehouse, or 
other sin, and when he heareth thee curse, or swear, 
or rail ? How glad is he when he heareth thee revile 
the minister that would draw thee from thy sin, and 
help to save thee ? These are his delight. 

2. The wicked are also delighted in it; for it is 
agreeable to their nature. 

3. But I know, for all this, that it is not the pleasing 
of the devil, that you intend, even when you please 
him ; but it is your own flesh, the greatest and most 
dangerous enemy, that you intend to~please. It is the 
flesh that would be pampered, that would be pleased 
in meat, and drink, and clothing ; that would be pleased 
in your company, and pleased in applause and credit 
with the world, and pleased in sports, and lusts, and' 
idleness ; this is the gulf that devoureth all. This is 
the very god that you serve, for the scripture saith- 
of such, that their bellies are their gods. Phil. iii. 19.. 
But I beseech you stay a little and consider the business.. 



34 



A CALL TO 



1 Question. Should your flesh be pleased before 
your Maker? Will you displease the Lord, and dis- 
please your teacher, and your godly friends, and all to 
please your brutish appetites, or sensual desires? Is 
not God worthy to be the ruler of your flesh? If he 
shall not rule it, he will not save it ; you cannot in rea- 
son expect that he should. 

2 Question. Your flesh is pleased with your sin ; 
but is your conscience pleased ? Doth not it grudge 
within you, and tell you sometimes that all is not well, 
and that your case is not so safe as you make it to be ; 
-and should not your souls and consciences be pleased 
before your corruptible flesh ? 

3 Question. But is not your flesh preparing for 
its own displeasure also ? It loves the bait, but doth 
it love the hook ? It loves the strong drink and sweet 
morsels ; it loves its ease, and sports and merriment ; 
it loves to be rich, and well spoken of by men, and to 
be somebody in the world ; but doth it love the curse ot 
God ? Doth it love to stand trembling before his bar, 
and to be judged to everlasting fire ? Doth it love to 
be tormented with the devils for ever ? Take all to- 
gether ; for there is no separating sin and hell, but 
only by faith and true conversion ; if you will keep 
one, you must have the other. If death and hell be 
pleasant to thee, no wonder then if you go on in sin : 
out if they be not, (as I am sure they are not,) then 
what if sin were never so pleasant, is it worth the loss 
of life eternal ? Is a little drink, or meat, or ease ; is 
the good word of sinners, is the riches of this world, 
to be valued above the joys of heaven ? Or are they 
worth the sufferings of eternal fire ? Sirs, these ques- 
tions should be considered before you go amy further, 
by every man that hath reason to consider, and that 
believes he hath a soul to save or lose. 

Well, the Lord here sweareth that he hath no plea- 
sure in your death, but rather that you would turn and 
live ; if yet you will go on and die rather than turn, 
remember it was not to please God that you did it : it 
was to please the world, and to please yourselves. And 
if men will damn themselves to please themselves, and 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



85 



run into endless torments for delight, and have not the 
wit, the hearts, the grace, to hearken to God or man 
that would reclaim them, what remedy but they must 
take what they get by it, and repent it in another man- 
ner, when it is too late ? Before I proceed any further 
in the application, I shall come to the next doctrine, 
which gives me a fuller ground for it. 

Doctrine 5. So earnest is God for the conversion of 
sinners, that he doubleth his commands and exhor- 
tations, with vehemency — Turn ye, turn ye, why 
will you die ? 

This doctrine is the application of the former, as by 
a use of exhortation, and accordingly I shall handle it. 
Is there ever an unconverted sinner that heareth these 
vehement words of God ? Is there ever a man or 
woman in this assembly that is yet a stranger to the 
renewing sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost ? It is a 
happy assembly, if it be not so with the most. Hearken 
then to the voice of your Maker, and turn to him 
by Christ without delay. Would you know the will 
•of God ? Why, this is his will, that you presently turn. 
Shall the living God send so earnest a message to his 
creatures, and should they not obey ? 2. Hearken 
then, all you that live after the flesh : the Lord that 
gave thee thy breath and being, hath sent a message 
to thee from heaven; and this is his message, Turn 
ye, turn ye, ivhy will ye die ? — He that hath ears to 
hear, let him hear. Shall the voice of the eternal 
Majesty be neglected - If he do but terribly thunder, 
thou art afraid. 0 but this voice doth more nearly 
•concern thee. If he did but tell thee thou sha.lt die to- 
morrow, thou wouldst not make light of it. O but this 
word concerneth thy life or death everlasting. It is 
both a command and an exhortation. As if he had 
said to thee, ' I charge thee upon the allegiance that 
thou ovvest to me thy Creator and Redeemer, that thou 
renounce the flesh, the world, and the devil, and turn 
to me that thou mayest live. I condescend to entreat 
thee, as thou either lovest or fearest him that made 
8 



86 



A CALL TO 



thee ; as thou lovest thine own life, even thine ever- 
lasting life, turn and live : as ever thou wouldst escape 
eternal misery, turn, turn, for why wilt thou die ?' And 
is there a heart in man, in a reasonable creature, that 
can once refuse such a message, such a command, such 
an exhortation as this ? O what a thing, then, is the 
heart of man ! 

Hearken, then, all that love yourselves, and all that 
regard your own salvation; here is the most joyful 
message that was ever sent to the ears of man, " Turn 
ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" You are not yet. shut 
up under desperation. Here is mercy offered you ;. 
turn, and you shall have it. 0 sirs ! with what glad 
and joyful hearts should you receive these tidings ! I 
know this is not the first time that you have heard it ; 
but how have you regarded it, or how do you regard 
it now? Hear, all you ignorant, careless .sinners, the 
word of the Lord. Hear, all you worldlings, you sen- 
sual flesh-pleasers ; you gluttons, and drunkards, and 
whoremongers, and swearers; you railers and back- 
biters, slanderers and liars — Turn ye, turn ye, why will 
ye die ? 

Hear, all you cold and outside professors, and all 
that are strangers to the life of Christ, and never knew 
the power of his cross and resurrection, and never felt 
your hearts warmed with his love, and live not on him 
as the strength of your souls — " Turn ye, turn ye, why 
will ye die ? 35 

Hear, all that are void of the love of God, whose 
hearts are not toward him, nor taken up with the hopes 
of glory, but set more by your earthly prosperity and 
delights than by the joys of heaven ; all you that are 
religious but a little by the by, and give God no more 
than your flesh can spare ; that have not denied your 
carnal selves, and forsaken all that you have for Christ, 
in the estimation and grounded resolution of your souls, 
but have some one thing in the w T orld so dear to you y 
that you cannot spare it for Christ, if he required it, 
but will rather venture on his displeasure than forsake 
.t — " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" 

If you never heard it, or observed it before, remem- 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



87 



ber that you were told from the word of God this day, 
that if you will but turn, you may live ; and if you will 
not turn, you shall surely die. 

What now will you do, sirs ? What is your resolu 
lion ? Will you turn, or will you not ? Halt not any 
longer between two opinions. If the Lord be God, 
follow him : if your flesh be God, then serve : t still. 
If heaven be better than earth and fleshly pleasures, 
come away, then, and seek a better country, and lay 
up your treasure where rust and moths do not corrupt, 
and thieves cannot break through and steal ; and be 
awakened at last, with all your might to seek the king- 
dom that cannot be moved, Heb. xii. 28 ; and to em- 
ploy your lives on a higher design, and turn the stream 
of your cares, and labours, another way than formerly 
you have done. But if earth be better than heaven, 
or will do more for you, or last you longer, then keep 
it, and make your best of it, and follow it still. Sirs, 
are you resolved what to do ? If you be not, I will set 
a few more moving considerations before you, to see if 
reason will make you resolve. 

Consider, first, what preparations mercy hath made 
for your salvation ; and what pity it is, that any man 
should be damned after all this. The time was, when 
the flaming sword was in the way, and the curse of 
God's law would have kept thee back, if thou hadst 
"been never so willing to turn to God. The time was, 
when thyself, and all the friends that thou hast in the 
world, could never have produced thee the pardon of 
thy sins past, though thou hadst never so much la- 
mented and reformed them. But Christ hath removed 
this impediment, by the ransom of his blood. The 
time was, that God was wholly unreconciled, as being 
not satisfied for the violation of his law ; but now he 
is so far satisfied and reconciled, as that he hath made 
thee a free act of oblivion, and a free deed of gift of 
Christ and life, and orTereth it to thee, and entreateth 
thee to accept it ; and it may be thine, if thou wilt. 
For, "he was in Christ reconciling the world to him- 
self, and hath committed to us the word of reconcilia- 
tion." 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. Sinners, we too are com- 



88 



A CALL, TO 



manded to deliver this message to you all, as from the 
Lord ; " Come, for all things^ are ready. 53 Luke xiv. 
17. Are all things ready, and are you unready? God 
is ready to entertain you, and pardon all that you have 
done against him, if you will but come. As long as 
you have sinned, as wilfully as you have sinned, he is 
ready to cast all behind his back, if you will but come. 
Though you have been prodigals, and run away from 
God, and have staid so long, he is ready even to meet 
you, and embrace you in his arms, and rejoice in your 
conversion, if you will but turn. Even the worldlings 
and drunkards will find God ready to bid them wel- 
come, if they will but come. Doth not this turn thy 
heart within thee ? O sinner ! if thou hast a heart of 
flesh, and not of stone in thee, methinks this should 
melt it. Should the dreadful infinite Majesty of heaven 
even wait for thy returning, and be ready to receive 
thee, who hast abused him, and forgotten him so long? 
Shall he delight in thy conversion, that might at any 
time glorify his justice in thy damnation ? and yet doth 
it not melt thy heart within thee, and art thou not yet 
ready to come in ? Hast thou not as much reason to 
be ready to come, as God hath to invite thee and bid 
thee welcome ? 

But that is not all : Christ hath done his part on the 
cross, and made such way for thee to the Father, that r 
on his account, thou mayst be welcome, if thou wilt 
come. And yet art thou not ready ? 

A pardon is already expressly granted, and offered 
thee in the Gospel. And yet art thou not ready? 

The ministers of the Gospel are ready to assist thee, 
to instruct thee, and pronounce the absolving words of 
peace to thy soul ; they are ready to pray for thee, and 
to seal up thy pardon by the administration of the holy 
sacrament. And yet art thou not ready ? 

All that fear God about thee, are ready to rejoice in 
thy conversion, and to receive thee into the commu- 
nion of saints, and to give thee the right hand of fel- 
lowship, yea, though thou hadst been one that had 
been cast out of their society: they dare not but^ for- 
give where God forgiveth, when it is manifest to them. 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



89 



by thy confession and amendment ; they dare not so 
much as reproach thee with thy former sins, because 
they know that God will not upbraid thee with them. 
If thou hadst been never so scandalous, if thou wouldst 
but heartily be converted and come in, they would not 
refuse thee, let the world say what they would against 
it. And are all these ready to receive thee, and yet art 
thou not ready to come in ? 

Yea, heaven itself is ready : the Lord will receive 
thee into the glory of his saints. Yile as thou hast 
been, if thou wilt be but cleansed, thou mayest have a 
place before his throne ; his angels will be ready to 
guard thy soul to the place of joy, if thou do but un- 
ieigriedly come in. And is God ready, the sacrifice of 
Christ ready, the promise ready, and pardon ready ? 
are ministers ready, and the people of God ready, and 
heaven itself ready? and angels ready? and all these 
but waiting for thy conversion ; and yet art thou not 
ready? What! not ready to live, when thou hast been 
dead so long? not ready to come to thy right under- 
standing as the prodigal is said to " come to himself," 
juuke xv. 17, when thou hast been beside thyself so 
long ? Not ready to be saved, when thou art even 
ready to be condemned? Art thou not ready to lay 
hold on Christ, that would deliver thee, when thou art 
even ready to sink into damnation ? Art thou not ready 
to be drawn from hell, when thou art even ready to be 
cast remediless into it? Alas, man! dost thou know 
what thou doest? If thou die unconverted, there is no 
doubt to be made of thy damnation; and thou art not 
sure to live an hour. And yet art thou not ready to 
turn and to come in ? O miserable wretch ! Hast thou 
not served the flesh and the devil long enough ? Yet 
hast thou not enough of sin ? Is it so good to thee, or 
so profitable for thee? Dost thou know what it is, that 
thou wouldst yet have more of it? Hast thou had so 
many calls, and so many mercies, and so many warn- 
ings, and so many examples ? Hast thou seen so many 
laid in the grave, and yet art thou not ready to let go 
thy sins, and come to Christ? What ! after so many 
convictions and pangs of conscience, after so many 



90 



A CALL TO 



purposes and promises, art thou not yet ready to turn 
and live ? 0 that thy eyes, thy heart, were opened to 
know how fair an offer is now made to thee ! and what a 
joyful message it is that we are sent on, to bid thee 
come, for all things are ready ! 

II. Consider also, what calls thou hast to turn and 
live. How many, how loud, how earnest, how dread- 
ful : and yet what encouraging, joyful calls ! For the 
principal inviter is God himself He that command eth 
heaven and earth, commands thee to turn, and that 
presently, without delay. He commands the sun to 
run its course, and to rise upon thee every morning ; 
and though it he so glorious an orb, and many times 
bigger than all the earth, yet it obeyeth him, and 
faileth not one minute of its appointed time. He com- 
mandeth all the planets, and the orbs of heaven, and 
they obey. He commandeth the sea to ebb and flow, 
and the whole creation to keep its course, and all obey 
him : the angels of heaven obey his will, when he 
sends them to minister to such worms as we on earth, 
Heb. i. 14; and yet if he command but a sinner to 
turn, he will not obey him. He only thinks himself 
wiser than God, and he cavils and pleads the cause oi' 
sin, and will not obe} r . If the Lord Almighty say the 
word, the heavens and all therein obey him : but if he 
call but a drunkard out of an alehouse, he will not 
obey : or if he call a worldly fleshly sinner to deny. 
himself, and mortify the flesh, and set his heart upon a 
better inheritance, he will not obey. 

If thou hadst any love in thee, thou wouldst know 
the voice, and say, 0 this is my Father's call ! how 
can I find in my heart to disobey? For the sheep of 
Christ " know and hear his voice, and they follow him 
and he giveth them eternal life." John x. 4. If thou 
hadst any spiritual life and sense in thee, at least thou 
wouldst say, This call is the dreadful voice of God, and 
who dare disobey ? For saith the prophet, fAmos iii. 
8.) " The lion hath roared, who will not fear:" God is 
not a man, that thou shouldst dally and trifle with him.. 
Remember what he said to Paul at his conversion,. 
"It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Acts 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



ix. 5. Wilt thou yet go on and despise his word, and 
resist his Spirit, and stop thine ear against his call? 
who is it that will have the worst of this ? Dost thou 
know whom thou disobeyest, and contendest with, and 
what thou art doing ? It were a far wiser and easier 
task for thee to contend with the thorns, and spurn 
them with thy bare feet, and beat them with thy bare 
hands, or put thine head into the burning fire. " Be 
not deceived ; God will not be mocked. 55 Gal. vi. 7. 
Whoever else be mocked, God will not : you had bet- 
ter play with the fire in your thatch, than with the fire 
of his burning wrath. " For our God is a consuming 
fire. 55 Heb. xii. 29. O how unmeet a match art thou 
for God ! "It is a fearful thing to fall into his hands. 5 ' 
Heb. x. 31. And therefore it is a fearful thing to con- 
tend with him, or resist him. As you love your own 
souls, take heed what you do : what will you say if he 
begin in wrath to plead with you ? What will you do 
if he take you once in hand? will you then strive 
against his judgment, as now ye do against his grace ? 
Isa. xxvii. 4, 5. " Fury is not in me" saith the Lord : 
(that is,) I delight not to destroy you : I do it, as it were, 
unwillingly ; but yet cc who will set the briers and thorns 
against me in battle ? I would go through them; I 
would burn them together. Or let hhn take hold of m\f 
strength, that he may make peace with me." It is an 
unequal combat for the briers and stubble to make war 
with the fire. 

And thus you see, who it is that calleth you, that 
would move you to hear his call, and turn : so consider 
also by what instruments, and how often, and how 
earnestly he doth it. 

1. Every leaf of the blessed book of God hath, as it 
were, a voice, and calls out to thee, Turn, and live ; 
turn, or thou wilt die. How canst thou open it, and' 
read a leaf, or hear a chapter, and not perceive God 
bids thee turn ? 

2. It is the voice of every sermon that thou hearest ; 
for what else is the scope and drift of all, but to call and 
persuade, and entreat thee for to turn. 

3. It is the voice of many a motion of the Spirit that 



A CALL TO 



secretly speaks over these words again, and urgeth 
thee to turn. 

4. It is likely, sometime it is the voice of thy own con- 
science. Art thou not sometimes convinced that all is 
not well with thee ? And doth not thy conscience tell 
thee that thou must be a new man, and take a new 
course, and often call upon thee to return ? 

5. It is the voice of the gracious examples of the 
godly. When thou seest.them live a heavenly life, and 
fly from the sin which is thy delight, this really calls 
on thee to turn. 

6. It is the voice of all the works of God : for they 
also are God's books that teach thee this lesson, by 
showing thee his greatness, and wisdom, and goodness, 
and calling thee to observe them, and admire the Crea- 
tor. Psalm xix. 1,2. " The heavens declare the glory 
of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work : 
day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth 
knowledge." Every time the sun riseth unto thee, it 
really calleth thee to turn, as if it should say, " What 
do I travel and compass the world for, but to declare to 
men the glory of their Maker, and to light them to do 
his work ? And do I still find thee doing the work of 
sin, and sleeping out thy life in negligence ? Awake 
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ 
shall give thee light." Ephes. v. 14. " The night is 
far spent, the day is at hand ; it is now high time to 
awake out of sleep. Let us therefore cast off the 
works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of 
aght. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in riot- 
ing and drunkenness, not in chambering and wanton- 
ness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to 
fulfil the lusts thereof. 55 Rom. xiii. 11—14. This text 
was the means of Austin's conversion. 

7. It is the voice of every mercy thou dost possess ; 
if thou couldstbut hear and understand them, they all 
cry out unto thee, Turn. W hy doth the earth bear 
thee, but to seek and serve the Lord ? Why doth it 
afford thee its fruits, but to serve him ? Why doth the 
air afford thee breath, but to serve him ? Why do all 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



98 



the creatures serve thee with their labours and their 
lives, but that thou mightst serve the Lord of them 
and thee ? Why doth he give thee time 3 and health, 
and strength, but only to serve him ? Why hast thou 
meat, and drink, and clothes, but for his service ? Hast 
thou any thing which thou hast not received ? and if 
thou didst receive them, it is reason thou shouldst be- 
think thee from whom, and to what end and use thou 
didst receive them. Didst thou never cry to him for 
help in thy distress, and didst thou not then under- 
stand that it was thy part to turn and serve him, if he 
would deliver thee ? He hath done his part, and spared 
thee yet longer, and tried thee another, and another 
year; and yet dost thou not turn? You know the 
parable of the unfruitful fig- tree, Luke xiii. 7 — 9. 
When the Lord had said, " Cut it down, why cumber- 
eth it the ground? 55 he was entreated to try it one 
year longer, and then if it proved not fruitful, to cut it 
down. Christ himself there makes the application 
twice over, ver. 3 and 5. " Except ye repent ye shall 
all likewise perish. 55 How many years hath God look- 
ed for the fruits of love and holiness from thee, and 
hath found none, and yet he hath spared thee ? How 
many a time, by thy wilful ignorance, and carelessness, 
and disobedience, hast thou provoked justice to say, 
" Cut him down, why cumbereth he the ground ? 55 
And yet mercy hath prevailed, and patience hath for- 
borne the fatal blow, to this day. If thou hadst the 
understanding of a man within thee, thou wouldst know 
that all this calleth thee to turn. " Dost thou think 
thou shalt still escape the judgment of God ? or de- 
spisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbear- 
ance, and long suffering? not knowing that the goodness 
of God leadeth thee to repentance. But, after thy 
hardness and impeuitent heart, treasurest up unto 
thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation 
of the righteous judgment of God ; who will render 
to every man according to his deeds. 55 Rom. ii. 3 — 6. 

8. Moreover, it is the voice of every affliction to 
call thee to make haste and turn. Sickness and pain 
cry. Turn : and poverty, and loss of friends, and every 



94 



A CALL TO 



twig of the chastening rod, cry, Turn ; and yet wilt 
thou not hearken to the call ? These have come near 
thee, and made thee feel ; they have made thee groan, 
and can they not make thee turn ? 

9. The very frame of thy nature and being itself, 
bespeaketh thy return. Why hast thou reason, but to 
rule thy flesh, and serve thy Lord ? Why hast thou 
an understanding soul, but to learn and know his will 
and do it ? Why hast thou a heart within thee, that 
can love, and fear, and desire, but that thou shouldst 
fear him, and love him, and desire after him ? 

10. Yea, thine own engagements by promise to the 
Lord, call upon thee to turn and serve him. Thou 
hast bound thyself to him by a baptismal covenant, 
and renounced the world, the flesh, and the devil. This 
thou hast confirmed by the profession of Christianity, 
and renewed it at Sacraments, and in times of afflic- 
tion ; and wilt thou promise and vow, and never 
perform and turn to God ? 

Lay all these together now, and see what should be 
the issue. The holy Scriptures call upon thee to turn ; 
the ministers of Christ call upon thee to turn ; the 
Spirit cries, Turn: thy conscience cries, Turn; the 
godly, by persuasions and examples cry, Turn ; the 
whole world, and all the creatures therein that are 
presented to thy consideration, cry, Turn ; the patient 
forbearance of God cries, Turn ; all the mercies which 
thou receivest cry, Turn ; the rod of God's chastise- 
ment cries, Turn ; thy reason and the frame of thy 
nature bespeaks thy turning ; and so do all thy pro- 
mises to God : and yet art thou not resolved to turn? 

III. Moreover, poor hard-hearted sinner, didst thou 
ever consider upon w T hat terms thou standest ail this 
while with Him that calleth on thee to turn ? Thou art 
his own, and owest him thyself, and all thou hast ; and 
may he not command his own ? Thou art his absolute 
servant, and shouldst serve no other master. Thou 
standest at his mercy, and thy life is in his hand, and 
he is resolved to save thee upon no other terms ; thou 
hast many malicious spiritual enemies, that would be 
glad if God would but forsake thee, and let them alone 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



95 



with thee, and leave thee to their will ; how quickly 
would they deal with thee in another manner ! and 
thou canst not be delivered from them hut by turning 
unto God. Thou art fallen under his wrath by thy sin 
already; and thou knowest not how long his patience 
wall yet wait. Perhaps this is the last year, perhaps 
the last day. His sword is even at thy heart, while the 
word is in thine ear ; and if thou turn not, thou art a 
dead and undone man. Were thy eyes but open to 
see where thou standest, even upon the brink of hell, 
and to see how many thousands are there already that 
did not turn, thou wouldst see that it is time to look 
about thee. 

Weil, sirs, look inwards now and tell me how your 
hearts are affected with those offers of the Lord. You 
hear what is his mind: he delighteth not in your 
death ; he calls to you, Turn, turn : it is a fearful sign 
if all this move thee not, or if it do but half move thee ; 
and much more if it make thee more careless in thy 
misery, because thou hearest of the mercifulness of 
God. The working of the medicine will partly tell us 
whether there be any hope of the cure. O what glad 
tidings would it be to those that are now in hell, if they 
had but such a message from God ! What a joyful 
word would it be to hear this, Turn and live ! Yea, 
what a welcome word would it be to thyself, when 
thou hast felt that wrath of God but an hour ! Or, if 
after a thousand or ten thousand years' torment, thou 
couldst but hear such a word from God, Turn and 
live ; and yet wilt thou neglect it, and suffer us to re- 
turn without our errand ? 

Behold, sinners, we are sent here as the messengers 
of the Lord, to set before you life and death. What 
say you? which of them will you choose? Christ 
standeth, as it were, by thee, with heaven in the one 
hand, and hell in the other, and offereth thee thy 
choice. Which wilt thou choose ? The voice of the 
Lord maketh the rocks to tremble. Psalm xxix. And 
is it nothing to hear him threaten thee, if thou will not 
turn ? Dost thou not understand and feel this voice, 
' Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" Why ? It is the 



A CALL TO 



I 



voice of love, of infinite love, of thy best and kindest 
friend, as thou mightest easily perceive by the motion ; 
and yet canst thou neglect it ? It is the voice of pity ; 
and compassion. The Lord seeth whither thou art 
going, better than thou dost, which makes him call j 
after thee, Turn, turn. He seeth what will become of i 
thee, if thou turn not. He thinketh with himself, ' Ah ! 
this poor sinner will cast himself into endless torments, 
if he do not turn. I must in justice deal with him ac- I 
cording to my righteous law.' And therefore he call- j 
eth after thee, Turn, turn. O sinner 1 if thou didst 
but know the thousandtn part as well as God doth, the 
danger that is near you, and the misery that you are 
running into, we should have no more need to call after 
you to turn. 

Moreover, this voice that calleth to thee, is the same 
that hath prevailed with thousands already, and called 
all to heaven that are now there ; and they would not 
now for a thousand worlds that they had made light of 
it, and not turned to God. Now, what are they pos- i 
sessing that turned at God's call? Now they perceive | 
that it was indeed the voice of love, that meant them 
no more harm than their salvation ; and if thou wilt 
obey the same call, thou shalt come to the same hap- ] 
piness. There are millions that must for ever lament j 
that they turned not; but there is never a soul in 
heaven that is sorry that they were converted. 

Well, sirs, are you yet resolved, or are you not ? Do j 
I need to say any more to you ? What will you do ? ; 
Will you turn or not ? Speak, man, in thy heart to i 
God, though you speak not out to me ; speak, lest he j 
take thy silence for denial ; speak quickly, lest he never , 
make thee the like offer more; speak resolvedly, and | 
not waveringly, for he will ha ve no indifYerents to be ' 
his followers. Say in thine heart now, without any i 
more delay, even before thou stir hence, ' By the grace 
of God I am resolved presently to turn. And because 
I know my own insufficiency, I am resolved to wait on . 
God for his grace, and to follow him in his ways, and i 
forsake my former courses and companions, and give 
Kp myself to the guidance of the Lord. 5 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



97 



Sirs, you are not shut up in the darkness of hea- 
thenism, nor in the desperation of the damned. Life 
is before you, and you may have it on reasonable 
terms, if you will ; yea, on free cost, if you will accept 
it. The way of God lieth plain before you ; the church 
is open to you. You may have Christ, and pardon, 
and holiness, if you will. What say you ? Will you 
or will you not ? If you say nay, or say nothing, and 
still go on, God is witness, and this congregation is 
witness, and your own consciences are witnesses, how 
fair an offer you had this day. Remember, you might 
have had Christ, and would not. Remember, when 
you have lost it, that you might have had eternal life, 
as well as others, and would not ; and all because you 
would not turn ! 

But let us come to the next doctrine, and hear your 
reasons. 

Doctrine 6. The Lord condescendeth to reason the 
case with unconverted sinners, and to ask them why 
they will die. 

A strange disputation it is, both as to the contro- 
versy, and as to the disputants. 

I. The controversy, or question propounded to dis- 
pute of is, Why wicked men will destroy themselves? 
or, Why they will rather die than turn ; whether they 
have any sufficient reason for so doing ? 

II. The disputants are God and man : the most holy 
God, and wicked unconverted sinners. 

Is it not a strange thing, which God doth here seem 
to suppose, that any man should be willing to die and be 
damned ? yea, that this should be the case of the 
wicked ? that is, of the greatest part of the world. But 
you will say, { This cannot be ; for nature desireth the 
preservation and felicity of itself; and the wicked are 
more selfish than others, and not less; and therefore 
how can any man be willing to be damned ?' 

To which I answer : — 1. It is a certain truth that no 
man can be willing of any evil, as evil, but only as it 
hath some appearance of good ; much less can any 
9 



98 



A CALL TO 



man be willing to be eternally tormented. Misery, as 
such, is desired by none. 2. But yet, for all that, it is 
most true which God here teacheth us, that the cause 
why the wicked die is, because they will die. And this 
is true in several respects. 

1. Because they will go the way that leads to hell, 
although they are told by God and man whither it goes 
and whither it ends ; and though God hath so often 
professed in his word, that if they hold on in that way 
they shall be condemned ; and that the}'' shall not be 
saved unless they turn, Isa. xlviii. 22. lvii. 21. lix. 8. 
" There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked." 
" The way of peace they know not ; there is no judg- 
ment in their goings ; they have made them crooked 
paths. Whosoever goeth therein, shall not know 
peace. 3 ' They have the word and the oath of the liv- 
ing God for it, that if they will not turn, they shall not 
enter into his rest : and yet, wicked they are, and 
wicked they will be, let God and man say what they 
will : fleshly they are, and fleshly they will be, world- 
ings they are, and worldlings they will be, though God 
hath told them that the love of the world is enmity to 
God, and that if any man love the world (in that mea- 
sure) the love of the Father is not in him. James iv. 
4. ; 1 John ii. 15. ; so that consequently these men are 
willing to damned, though not directly ; they are wil- 
ling to walk in the way to hell, and love the certain 
cause of their torment; though they do not will hell 
itself, and do not love the pain which they must 
endure. 

Is not this the truth of your case, sirs ? You would 
not burn in hell, but you will kindle the fire by your 
sins, and cast yourselves into it ; you would not be 
tormented with devils for ever, but you will do that 
which will certainly procure it in spite of all that can 
be said against it. It is just as if you would say, 6 1 
will drink this ratsbane, or other poison, but yet I will 
not die. I will cast myself headlong from the top of a 
steeple, but yet I will not kill myself. I will thrust this 
knife into my heart, but yet I will not take away 
my life. I will put this fire into the thatch of my 



THE UNCONVERTED 



m 



house, but yet I will not burn it.' Just so it is with 
wicked men ; they will be wicked, and "they will live 
after the flesh and the world, and yet they would not 
be damned. But do you not know that the means lead 
to the end ? and that God hath, by his righteous law, 
concluded that ye must repent or perish ? He that 
will take poison, may as well say plainly, I will kill my- 
self, for it will prove no better in the end ; though per- 
haps he loved it for the sweetness of the sugar that 
was mixed with it; and would not be persuaded that 
it was poison, but that he might take it and do well 
enough ; but it is not his conceits and confidence that 
will save his life. So if you will be drunkards, or for- 
nicators, or worldlings, or live after the flesh, you may 
as well say plainly, We will be damned ; for so you 
shall he unless you turn. Would you not rebuke the folly 
of a thief or murderer, that would say I wi\] steal and kill, 
but I will not be hanged, when he knows that if he 
does the one, the judge in justice will see that the 
other be done ? If he say I will steal and murder, he 
may as well say plainly, I will be hanged ; and if you 
wili go on in a carnal life, you may as well say plainly, 
We will go to hell. 

2. Moreover, the wicked will not use those means 
without which there is no hope of their salvation. 
He that will not eat, may as well say plainly, he will 
not live, unless he can tell how to live without meat. 
He that will not go his journey, may as well say 
plainly he will not come to the end. He that falls into 
the water, and will not come out, nor suffer another to 
help him out, may as well say plainly, he will be 
drowned. So if you be carnal and ungodly, and will 
not be converted, nor use the means by which you 
should be converted, but think it more ado than needs, 
you may as well say plainly you will be damned ; for 
if you have found out a way to be saved without con- 
version, you have done that which was never done 
before. 

3. Yea, this is not all ; but the wicked are unwilling 
even to partake of salvation itself ; though they may 
desire somewhat which they call by the name of hea- 



A CALL TO 



ven, yet heaven itself, considered in the true nature of 
the felicity, they desire not; yea, their hearts are quite 
against it. Heaven is a state of perfect holiness, and 
of continual love and praise to God, and the wicked 
have no heart to this. The imperfect love and praise 
and holiness which is here to he attained, they have no 
mind of: much less of that which is so much greater. 
The joys of heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature, 
that the heart of the wicked cannot truly desire them. 

So that hy this time you may see on what ground 
it is that God supposeth that the wicked are willing of 
their own destruction. They will not turn, though 
they must turn or die : they will rather venture on cer- 
tain misery, than be converted ; and then to quiet them- 
selves in their sins, they will make themselves believe 
that they shall nevertheless escape. 

II. And as this controversy is matter of wonder, that 
ever men should be such enemies to themselves as 
wilfully to cast away their souls, so are the disputants 
too. That God should stoop so low as thus to plead 
the case with man ; and that man should be so strange- 
ly blind and obstinate as to need all this in so plain a 
case ; yea, and to resist all this, when their own salva- 
tion lieth upon the issue. 

No wonder that they will not hear us that are men, 
when they will not hear the Lord himself. As God 
saith, Ezek. hi. 7, when he sent the prophet to the 
Israelites. " The house of Israel will not hearken unto 
thee ; for they will not hearken unto me ; for all the 
house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted." No 
wonder if they can plead against a minister, or a godly 
neighbour, when they will plead against the Lord him- 
self, even against the plainest passages of his word, and 
think that they have reason on their side. When they 
weary the Lord with their words, they say, " wherein 
have we wearied him?" Mai. ii. 17. The priests that 
despised his name durst ask, " Wherein have we de- 
spised thy name ?" And " when they polluted his altar, 
and made the table of the Lord contemptible," they 
durst say, " Wherein have we polluted thee ?" Mai. i. 
6, 7. But " Wo unto him (saith the Lord) that striv- 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



101 



eth with his Maker ! Let the potsherds strive with the 
potsherds of the earth : shall the clay say to him that 
fashioneth it, What makest thou ?" 

Quest. — But why is it that God will reason the case 
with man ? 

Jlnsw. 1. — Because that man being a reasonable crea- 
ture, is accordingly to be dealt with, and by reason to 
be persuaded and overcome ; God hath therefore en- 
dowed them with reason, that they might use it for 
him. One would think a reasonable creature should 
not go against the clearest, the greatest reason in the 
world, when it is set before him. 

2. At least, men shall see that God did require 
nothing of them that was unreasonable : but both in 
what he commandeth them, and what he forbids them, 
he hath all the right reason in the world on his side ; and 
they have good reason to obey him, — -but none to dis- 
obey. And thus even the damned shall be forced to 
justify God, and confess that it was only reasonable 
that they should have turned to him ; and they shall 
be forced to condemn themselves, and confess that they 
had little reason to cast away themselves by the neglect- 
ing of his grace in the day of their visitation, 

Use. — Look up your best and strongest reasons, 
sinners, if you will make good your way. You see 
now with whom you have to deal. What sayest 
thou, unconverted sensual sinner? Darestthou venture 
upon a dispute with God ? Art thou able to confute 
him ? Art thou ready to enter the lists ? God asketh 
thee, Why wilt thou die ? Art thou furnished with a 
sufficient answer ? Wilt thou undertake to prove that 
God is mistaken, and that thou art in the right? O 
what an undertaking is that! Why, either he or you 
are mistaken, when he is for your conversion, and you 
are against it ; he calls upon you to turn, and you will 
not ; he bids you to do it presently, even to-day, while 
it is called to-day, and you delay, and think it time 
enough hereafter. He saith it must be a total change, 
and you must be holy and new creatures, and born 
again : and vou think that less may serve the turn, 
9* 



102 A CALL TO 

and that it is enough to patch up the old man, without 
becoming new. Who is in the right now ? God or 
you ? God calleth you to turn, and to live a holy life, 
and you will not ; — by your disobedient lives, it ap- 
pears you will not. If you will, why do you not? Why 
have you not done it all this while ? And why do you 
not fall upon it yet? Your wills have the command ot 
your lives. W T e may certainly conclude that you are 
unwilling to turn, when you do not turn. And why 
will you not ? 

Can you give any reason for it, that is worthy to be 
called a reason? 

I that am but a worm, your fellow creature, of a 
shallow capacity, dare challenge the wisest of you all 
to reason the case with me, while I plead my Maker's 
cause ; and I need not be discouraged when I know I 
plead but the cause that God pleadeth, and contend for 
him that will have the best at last. Had I but these 
two general grounds against you, I am sure that you 
have no good reason on your side. 

I am sure it can be no good reason which is against 
the God of truth and reason. It cannot be light that 
is contrary to the sun. There is no knowledge in 
any creature but what it had from God ; and there- 
fore none can be wiser than God. It were fatal pre- 
sumption for the highest angel to compare with his 
Creator ! What is it then for a lump of earth, an ignor- 
ant sot, that knoweth not himself nor his own soul, 
that knoweth but little of the things which he seeth, 
yea, that is more ignorant than many of his neigh- 
bours, to set himself against the wisdom of the Lord ! 
It is one of the fullest discoveries of the horrible wick- 
edness of carnal men, and the stark-madness of such 
as sin, that so silly a mole dare contradict his Maker, 
and call in question the word of God : yea, that those 
people in our parishes, that are so ignorant that they 
cannot give us a reasonable answer concerning the 
very principles of religion, are yet so wise in their own 
conceit, that they dare question the plainest truths of 
God, yea, contradict them and cavil against them, 
when they can scarcely speak sense, and will believe 



THE UNCONVERTED, 



103 



them no further than agreeth with their foolish wis- 
dom! 

And as I know that God must needs be in the right, 
so I know the cause is so palpable and gross which he 
pleadeth against, that no man can have reason for it. 
Is it possible that a man can have any reason to break 
his Maker's laws, and reason to dishonour the Lord of 
glory, and reason to abuse the Lord that bought him ? 
Is it possible that a man can have any good reason to 
damn his own immortal soul ? Mark the Lord's ques- 
tion, turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ? Is eternal death 
a thing to be desired? Are you in love with hell? 
What reason have you wilfully to perish? If you think 
you have some reason to sin, should you not remember 
that death is the wages of sin ; Rom. vi. 23. and think 
whether you have any reason to undo yourselves, body 
and soul for ever ? You should not only ask whether 
you love the adder, but whether you love the sting? 
It is such a thing for a man to cast a way his everlast- 
ing happiness, and to sin against God, that no good 
reason can be given for it ; but the more any one 
pleads for it, the more mad he showeth himself to be. 
Had you a lordship, or a kingdom offered you for every 
sin that you commit, it were not reason out madness 
to accept it. Could you by every sin obtain the highest 
thing on earth that flesh desireth, it were of no con- 
siderable value to persuade you in reason to commit it. 
If it were to please your greatest or dearest friends, 
or to obey the greatest prince on earth, or to save 
your lives, or to escape the greatest earthly misery ; 
all these are of no consideration to draw a man in 
reason to the committing of one sin. If it were a 
right hand or a right eye that would hinder your sal- 
vation, it is the most gainful way to cast it away, 
rather than to go to hell to save it ; for there is no 
saving a part when you lose the whole. So exceed- 
ingly great are the matters of eternity, that nothing in 
this world deserveth once to be named in comparison 
with them ; nor can any earthly thing, though it were 
life, or crowns, or kingdoms, be a reasonable excuse 
ior the neglect of matters of such high and everlasting 



104 



A CALL TO 



consequence. A man can have no reason to cross his 
ultimate end. Heaven is such a thing, that if you lose 
it, nothing can supply the want or make up the loss ; 
and hell is such a thing, that if you suffer it, nothing 
can remove your misery, or give you ease and comfort ; 
and therefore nothing can he a valuable consideration 
to excuse you for neglecting your own salvation ; for, 
saith our Saviour, " What shall it profit a man if he 
shall cram the whole world, and lose his own soul?" 
Mark viii. 36. 

0 sirs, that you did but know what matters they are 
that we are now speaking to you of! you would have 
other kind of thoughts of these things. If the devil 
could come to them, the saints in heaven, that live in 
the sight and love of God, and should offer them sen 
sual pleasures, or merry company, or sports to entice 
them away from God and glory, I pray you tell me, 
how do you think they would entertain the motion ? 
Nay, or if he should offer them to be kings on the 
earth, do you think this would entice them down from 
heaven ? O with what hatred and holy scorn would 
they reject the motion ! And why should not you do 
so, that have heaven opened to your faith, if you had 
but faith to see it? There is never a soul in hell, but 
knows, by this time, that it was a mad exchange to let 
go heaven for fleshly pleasure ; and that it is not a 
little mirth or pleasure, or worldly riches, or honour, 
or the good will or word of men, that will quench hell 
fire, or make him a gainer that loseth his soul. O if 
you had heard what I believe, if you had seen what I 
believe, and that on the credit of the word of God, 
you would say there can be no reason to warrant a 
man to destroy his soul ; you durst not sleep quietly 
another night, before you had resolved to turn and live. 

If you see a man put his hand into the fire till it 
burn off, you will marvel at it ; but this is a thing that 
a man may have a reason for, as Bishop Cranmer had, 
when he burnt off his hand for subscribing to Popery. 
If you see a man cut off a leg, or an arm, it is a sad 
sight ; but this is a thing, that a man may have a good 
reason for, as many a man hath it done to save his life. 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



105 



Jf you see a man give his body to be tormented with 
scourges and racks, or to be burned to ashes, and refuse 
deliverance when it is offered, this is a hard case to 
flesh and blood ; but this a man may have good reason 
for, as you may see in Heb. xi. 33 — 36, and as many 
a hundred martyrs have done. But for a man to for- 
sake the Lord that made him, and to run into the fire 
of hell, when he is told of it, and entreated to turn that 
he may be saved > — this is a thing that can have no rea- 
son in the world to justify or excuse it. For heaven 
will pay for the loss of any thing that we can lose to 
obtain it, or for any labour which we bestow for it ; 
but nothing can pay for the loss of heaven. 

I beseech you now let this word come nearer to your 
heart. As you are convinced that you have no reason 
to destroy yourselves, so tell me what reason have you 
to refuse to turn and. live to God ? What reason has 
the veriest worlding, or drunkard, or ignorant careless 
sinner of you all, why he should not be as holy as any 
you know, and be as careful for his soul as any other ? 
Will not hell be as intolerable to you as to others ? 
Should not your own souls be as dear to you as theirs 
to them ? Hath not God as much authority over you ? 
Why then will you not become a sanctified people, as 
well as they ? 

O sirs, when God bringeth the matter down to the 
very principles of nature, and shows that you have no 
more reason to be ungodly *han you have to damn 
your own souls, — if yet you will not understand and 
turn, it seems a desperate case that you are in. 

And now, either you have good reason for what you 
do, or you have not : if not, will you go against reason 
itself? Will you do that which you have no reason for ? 
But if you think you have, produce it, and make the 
best of your matter. Reason the case a little with me, 
your fellow-creature, which is far easier than to reason 
the case with God ; tell me, man, here before the Lord, 
as if thou wert to die this hour, why shouldst thou not 
resolve to turn this day; before thou stir from the place 
thou standest in, what reason hast thou to deny or to 
delay ? Hast thou any reason that satisfieth thine own 



106 



A CALL TO 



conscience for it, or any that thou darest own and plead 
at the bar of God ? If thou hast, let us hear them, 
bring them forth, and make them good. But, alas ! 
what poor stuff, what nonsense, instead of reasons, do 
we daily hear from ungodly men! But for their neces- 
sity I should be ashamed to name them. 

Object. 1. One saith, if none shall be saved but sucn 
converted and sanctified ones as you talk of, then 
heaven would be but empty ; then God help a great 
many. 

Answ. Why, it seems you think that God doth not 
know, or else that he is not to be believed ! Measure 
not ail by yourselves : God hath thousands and millions 
of his sanctified ones ; but yet they are few in com- 
parison of the world, as Christ himself hath told us, 
Matt. vii. 13, 14. Luke xi. 32. It better beseems you 
to make that use of this truth which Christ teacheth 
you : e Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for strait 
is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto 
life, and few there be that find it ; but wide is the gate 
and broad is the way which leadeth to destruction, 
and many there be that go in thereat, 5 Luke xhi. 
22 — 24. Fear not, little flock (saith Christ to his sanc- 
tified ones) for it is your Father's good pleasure to 
give you the kingdom. Luke xii. 32. 

Object. 2. I am sure, if such as I go to hell, we shall 
have store of company. 

Answ. And will that be any ease or comfort to you? 
Or do you think you may not have company enough in 
heaven? Will you be undone for company, or will 
you not believe that God will execute his threatenings, 
because there be so many that are guilty ? These are 
all unreasonable conceits. 

Object. 3. But all men are sinners, even the best of 
you all. 

Anno. But all are not unconverted sinners. The 
godly live not in gross sins : and their very infirmities 
are their grief and burden, which they daily long, and 
pray, and strive to be rid of. Sin hath not dominion 
over them. 

Object. 4. I do not see that professors are any better 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



107 



than other men ; they will overreach and oppress, and 
are as covetous as any. 

Jlnsw. Whatever hypocrites are, it is not so with 
those that are sanctified. God hath thousands, and 
tens of thousands that are otherwise, though the mali- 
cious world doth accuse them of what they can never 
prove, and of that which never entered into their 
hearts ; and commonly they charge them with heart- 
sins, which none can see but God, because they can 
charge them with no such wickedness in their lives, 
as they are guilty of themselves. 

Object. 5. But I am no whoremonger, nor drunkard, 
nor oppressor ; and therefore why should you call upon 
me to be converted ? 

Jlnsw. As if you were not born after the flesh, and 
had not lived after the flesh, as well as others ! Is it not 
as great a sin as any of these, for a man to have an 
earthly mind, and to love the world above God, and to 
have an unbelieving, unhumbled heart? Nay, let me 
tell you more, that many persons that avoid disgrace- 
ful sins, are as fast glued to the world, and as much 
slaves to the flesh, and as strange to God, and averse 
to heaven in their more civil course, as others are in 
their more shameful, notorious sins. 

Object 6. But I mean nobody any harm, nor do any 
harm ; and why then should God condemn me ? 

Jlnsw. Is it no harm to neglect the Lord that made 
thee, and the work for which thou earnest into the 
world, and to prefer the creature before the Creator, 
and to neglect grace that is daily offered thee? It is 
the depth of thy sinfulness to be so insensible of it : 
the dead feel not that they are dead. If once thou 
wert made alive, thou wouldst see more amiss in thy- 
self, and marvel at thyself for making so light of it. 

Object. 1. I think you would make men mad, under 
pretence of converting them : it is enough to rack the 
brains of simple people to muse so much on matters so 
high for them. 

Jlnsw. 1 . Can you be more mad than you are already 1 
or, at least, can there be a more dangerous madness 



103 



A CALL TO 



than to neglect your everlasting welfare 3 and wilfully 
undo yourselves ? 

2. A man is never well in his wits till he be convert- 
ed : he never knows God, nor knows sin, nor knows 
Christ, nor knows the world, nor himself, nor what his 
business is on earth, so as to set himself about it, till 
he be converted. The Scripture saith, that the wicked 
are unreasonable men, 2 Thess. hi. 2, and that the 
wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, 1 Cor. i. 
20. and Luke xv. 17. It is said of the prodigal, that 
when he came to himself, he resolved to return. It is 
a wise world when men will disobey God, and run to 
hell, for fear of being out of their wits. 

3. What is there in the work that Christ calls you 
to, that should drive a man out of his wits ? Is it the 
loving God, and calling upon him, and comfortably 
thinking of the glory to come, and the forsaking of our 
sins, and loving one another, and delighting ourselves 
in the service of God ? Are these such things as should 
make men mad ? 

4. And whereas you say that these matters are too 
high for us ; you accuse God himself, for making this 
our work, and giving us his word, and commanding all 
that will be blessed to meditate on it day and night. — 
Are the matters which we are made for, and which we 
live for, too high for us to meddle with? This is 
plainly to unman us, and to make beasts of us, as if we 
were like them that must meddle with no higher mat- 
ters than what belongs to flesh and earth. If heaven 
be too high for you to think on and provide for, it will 
be too high for you ever to possess. 

5. If God should sometimes suffer any weakheaded 
persons to be distracted by thinking of eternal things, 
this is because they misunderstand them, and run with- 
out a guide : and of the two I had rather be in the case 
of such a one, than of the mad unconverted world, 
that take their distraction to be their wisdom. 

Object 8. I do not think that God cares so much 
what men think, or speak, or do, as to make so great 
a matter of it. 

Answ. It seems then you take the word of God to 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



109 



be false : then what will you believe ? But your own 
reason might teach you better, if you believe not the 
scriptures ; for you see God sets not so light by us but 
that he vouchsafed to make us, and still preserveth us, 
and daily upholdeth us, and provideth for us ; and will 
any wise man make a curious frame for nothing? Will 
you make or buy a clock or watch, and daily look at 
it, and not care whether it go true or false ? Surely, if 
you believe not a particular eye of Providence observ- 
ing your hearts and lives, you cannot believe or ex- 
pect any particular Providence to observe your wants 
and troubles, or to relieve you ; and if God had so 
little care for you as you imagine, you would never 
have lived till now ; a hundred diseases would have 
striven which should first destroy you ; yea, the devils 
would have haunted you, and fetched you away alive, 
as the great fishes devour the less, and as ravenous 
beasts and birds devour others. You cannot think that 
God made man for no end or use ; and if he made him 
for any, it was surely for himself ; and can you think 
he cares not whether his end be accomplished, and 
whether we do the work that we are made for? 

Yea, by this atheistical objection, you make God to 
have made and upheld all the world in vain : for what 
are all other lower creatures for, but for man ? What ! 
doth the earth but bear us, and nourish us, and the 
beasts do serve us with their labours and lives, and 
so of the rest ? And hath God made so glorious a 
habitation, and set man to dwell in it, and made all 
his servants ; and now doth he look for nothing at his 
hands, nor care how he thinks, or speaks, or lives ? 
This is most unreasonable. 

Object. 9. It was a better w r orld when men did not 
make so much ado in religion. 

Answ. 1. It hath ever been the custom to praise the 
times past ; that world that you speak of, was wont 
to say it was a better world in their forefathers' days; 
and so did they of their forefathers. 5 This is but an 
old custom, because we all feel the evil of our own 
times, but we see not that which was before us. 

2. Perhaps you speak as you think. Worldlings 
10 



110 



A CALL TO 



think the world is at the "best when it is agreeable 
to their minds, and when they have most mirth, and 
worldly pleasure ; and I doubt not but the devil, as 
well as you, would say, that then it was a better 
world ; for then he had more service and less dis- 
turbance. But the world is at the best when God is 
most loved, regarded, and obeyed ; and how else will 
you know when the world is good or bad, but by this f 

Object. 10. There are so many ways and religions, 
that we know not which to be of, and therefore we 
will be even as we are. 

Answ. Because there are many, will you be of that 
way that you may be sure is wrong ? None are fur- 
ther out of the way than worldly, fleshly, unconverted 
sinners; for they do not only err in this or that opi- 
nion, as many sects do, but in the very scope and 
drift of their lives. If you were going a journey that 
your life lay on, would you stop or turn again, because 
you met with some cross-ways, or because you saw 
some travellers go the horse-way, and some the foot- 
way, and some perhaps break over the hedge, yea, 
and some miss the way ? Or would you not rather 
be the more careful to inquire the way? If you have 
some servants that know not how to do your work 
light, and some that are unfaithful, would you take 
it well of any of the rest that would therefore be idle 
and do you no service, because they see the rest so bad ? 

Object. 11. I do not see that it goes any better with 
those that are so godly, than with other men ; they 
are as poor, and in as much trouble as others. 

Answ. And perhaps in much more, when God sees 
it meet. They take not earthly prosperity for their 
wages ; they have laid up their treasure and hopes in 
another world ; or else they are not Christians indeed ; 
the less they have, the more is behind, and they are 
content to wait till then. 

Object. 12. When you have said all that you can, I 
am resolved to hope well, and trust in God, and do 
as well as I can, and not make so much ado. 

Answ. 1. Is that doing as well as you can, when you 
will not turn to God 3 but your heart is against his hol$ 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



Ill 



and diligent service ? It is as well as you will, indeed, 
but that is your misery. 

2. My desire is, that you should hope and trust m 
God. But for what is it that you will hope ? Is it to 
be saved, if you turn and be sanctified ? For this you 
•have God's promise, and therefore hope for it and 
spare not. But if you hope to be saved without con- 
version and a holy life, this is not to hope in God, 
but in Satan, or yourselves ; for God hath given you 
no such promise, but told you the contrary ; but it is 
Satan and self-love that made you such promises, and 
raised you to such hopes. 

Well, if these, and such as these, be all you have to 
say against conversion and a holy life, your all is no- 
thing, and worse than nothing ; and if these, and such 
as these, seem reasons sufficient to persuade you to 
forsake God, and cast yourselves into hell, the Lord 
deliver you from such reasons, and from such blind 
understandings, and from such senseless hardened 
hearts. Dare you stand to aver one of these reasons 
at the bar of God? Do you think it will then serve 
your turn to say, * Lord, I did not turn, because I had 
so much to do in the world, or because I did not like 
the lives of some professors, or because I saw men of 
so many minds !' O how easily will the light of that 
day confound and shame such reasonings as these ! 
Had you the world to look after? Let the world 
which you served now pay you your wages, and 
save you if it can. Had you not a better world to 
look after first, and were ye not commanded to seek 
first God's kingdom and righteousness, and promised 
that other things should be added to you? Matt. vi. 
33. And were ye not told, that godliness was profita- 
ble to all things, having the promise of this life, and 
of that which is to come ? 1 Tim. iv. 8. Did the 
sins of professors hinder you ? You should rather 
have been the more heedful, and learned, by their 
falls, to beware, and have been the more careful, and 
not to be more careless. It was the Scripture, and 
not their lives, that was your rule. Did the many 
opinions of the world hinder you ? Why, the Scrip- 



112 



A CALL TO 



ture, that was your rule, did teach you but one way, 
and that was the right way. If you had followed 
that, even in so much as was plain and easy, you 
should never have miscarried. Will noi such answers 
as these confound and silence you ? If these will not, 
God hath those that will. When he asked the man, 
" Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having on a 
wedding garment? 55 Matt. xxii. 12. that is, what 
dost thou in my Church among professed Christians, 
without a holy heart and life, — what answer did he 
make? Why the text, saith, "he was speechless; 5 ' 
he had nothing to say. The clearness of the case, 
and the majesty of God, will then easily stop the 
mouths of the most confident of you, though you will 
not be put down by any thing we can say to you 
now, but will make good your cause, be it ever so 
bad. I know already that never a reason that now 
you can give me will do you any good at last, when 
your case must be opened before the Lord and all the 
world. 

Nay, I scarce think that your own consciences are 
well satisfied with your reasons ; for if they are, it 
seems then you have not so much as a purpose to 
repent. But if you do purpose to repent, it seems 
you do not put much confidence in your reasons 
which you bring against it. 

What say you, unconverted sinners? Have you 
any good reasons to give why you WTmld not turn, 
and presently turn with all your hearts ? Or will 
you go to hell in despite of reason itself? Bethink 
you what you do in time, for it will shortly be too. 



God, or his work., or his wages ? Is he a bad mas- 
ter? Is the devil, whom ye serve, a better? or is 
the flesh a better } Is there any harm in a holy 
life ? Is a life of worldliness and ungodliness better ? 
Do you think in your consciences that it would do 
you any harm to be converted and live a holy life? 
What harm can it do you ? Is it harm to you to 
have the Spirit of Christ wnthin you, and to have a 
cleansed purified heart ? If it be bad to be holy, 




Can you find any fault with 



THE UNCONVERTED. 113 

why doth God say, "Be ye holy, for I am holy ?" 1 
Pet.i. 15, 16. Lev. xx. 7. Is it evil to be like God? 
Is it not said that God made man in his own image? 
Why, this holiness is his image ; this Adam lost, 
and this Christ by his word and Spirit would restore 
to you, as he doth to all that he will save. Why 
you are baptized into the Holy Ghost, and why do 
you baptize your children into the Holy Ghost, as 
your Sanctifier, if you will not be sanctified by him, 
but think it a hurt to you to be sanctified ? Tell 
me truly, as before the Lord, though you are loth 
to live a holy life, had you not rather die in the case 
of those that do so, than of others ? If you were to 
die this day, had you not rather die in the case of 
a converted man than of an unconverted ? of a holy 
and heavenly man than of a carnal earthly man? 
and would you not say as Balaam, Numb, xxiii. 10. 
" Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my 
last end be like his!" And why will you not now 
be of the mind that you will be of then ? First or 
last you must come to this, either to be converted, 
or to wish you had been, when it is too late. 

But what is it that you are afraid of losing, if you 
turn ? Is it your friends ? You will but change them ; 
God will be your friend, and Christ and the Spirit 
will be your friend, and every christian will be your 
friend. You will get one friend that will stand you 
in more stead than all the friends in the world could 
have done. The friends you lose would have but en- 
ticed you to hell, but could not have delivered you : 
but the friend you get will save you from hell, and 
bring you to his own eternal rest. 

Is it your pleasures that you are afraid of losing? You 
think you shall never have a merry day again if once 
you be converted. Alas ! that you should think it a 
greater pleasure to live in foolish sports and merri- 
ments, and please your flesh, than to live in the be- 
lieving thoughts of glory, and in the love of God, and 
in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, 
in which the state of grace consisteth. Rom. xiv. 17. 
If it would be a greater pleasure for you to think of 
10* 



114 



A CALL TO 



your lands and inheritance, if you were lord of all the 
country, than it is for a child to play at pins ; why 
should it not be a greater joy to you to think of the 
kingdom of heaven being yours, than of all the riches 
or pleasures of the world ? As it is but foolish childish- 
ness that makes children so delight in toys, that they 
would not leave them for all your lands, so it is but 
foolish worldliness, and flesh liness, and wickedness, 
that makes you so much delight in your houses and 
lands, and meat and drink, and ease and honour, as 
that you would not part with them for the heavenly 
delights. But what will you do for pleasure when 
these are gone ? Do you not think of that ? When your 
pleasures end in horror, and go out like a taper, the 
pleasures of the saints are then at the best. I have 
had myself but a little taste of the heavenly pleasures 
in the forethoughts of the blessed approaching day, 
and in the present persuasions of the love of God in 
Christ ; but I have taken too deep a draught of earthly 
pleasures : so that you may see, if I be partial, it is 
on your side ; and yet I must profess from that little- 
experience, that there is no comparison. There is 
more joy to be had in a day, if the sun of life shine 
clear upon us, in the state of holiness, than in a whole 
life of sinful pleasures. "I had rather be a door- 
keeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents 
of wickedness. 55 Ps. lxxxiv. 10. " A day in his courts 
is better than a thousand 55 any where else. Ps. lxxxiv. 
10. The mirth of the wicked is like the laughter of a 
madman, that knows not his own misery; and there- 
fore Solomon says of such laughter, " it is mad ; and 
of mirth, what doth it r 55 EccTes. ii. 2. vii. 2—6. " It 
is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to 
the house of feasting ; for that is the end of all men, 
and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better 
than laughter ; for by the sadness of the countenance 
the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in 
the house of mourning ; but the heart of fools is in the 
house of mirth. It is better to bear the rebuke of the 
wise, than to hear the song of fools ; for as the crack- 
ling of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the 



THE UNCONVERTED. 115 

fool." All the pleasure of fleshly things is but like the 
scratching of a man that hath the itch ; it is his dis- 
ease that makes him desire it, and a wise man had 
rather be without his pleasure than be troubled with 
his itch. Your loudest laughter is but like that of a 
man that is tickled ; he laughs when he has no cause 
of joy. Judge, as you are men, whether this be a 
wise man's part. It is but your carnal unsanctified 
nature that makes a holy life seem grievous to you 5 
and a course of sensuality seem more delightful. If 
you will but turn, the Holy Ghost will give you 
another nature and inclination, and then it will be 
more pleasant to you to be rid of your sin, than now 
it is to keep it ; and you will then say, that you knew 
not what a comfortable life was till now, and that it- 
was never well with you- till God and holiness were 
your delight. 

Ques. But how cometh it to pass that men should 
be so unreasonable in the matters of salvation ? They 
have wit enough in other matters: what makes them 
so loth to be converted, that there should need so many 
words in so plain a case, and all will not do, but the 
most will live and die unconverted? 

Arisw. To name them only in a few words, the 
causes are these : 

1. Men are naturally in love with the earth and 
flesh ; they are born sinners, and their nature hath an 
enmity to God and goodness, as the nature of a serpent 
hath to a man : and when all that we can say goes 
against an habitual inclination of their natures, no 
marvel if it prevail little. 

2. They are in darkness, and know not the very 
things they hear. Like a man that was born blind, 
and hears a high commendation of the light ; but what 
will hearing do, unless he sees it ? They know not what 
God is, nor what is the power of the cross of Christ, 
nor what the spirit of holiness is, nor what it is to live 
in love by faith : the}'' know not the certainty, and suit- 
ableness, and excellency of the heavenly inheritance. 
They know not what conversion and a holy mind and 
conversation is, e ven when they hear of it. They are w 



116 



A CALL TO 



a mist of ignorance. They are lost and bewildered in 
sin ; like a man that has lost himself in the night, and 
knows not where he is, nor how to come to himself 
again, till the daylight recover him. 

3. They are wilfully confident that they need no 
conversion, but some partial amendment ; and that they 
are in the way to heaven already ; and are converted 
when they are not. And if you meet a man that is 
quite out of his way, you may long enough call on him 
to turn back again, if he will not believe you that he 
is out of the way. 

4. They are become slaves to their flesh, and 
drowned in the world to make provision for it. Their 
lusts, and passions, and appetites have distracted them, 
and got such a hand over them, that they cannot tell 
how to deny them, or how to mind any thing else ; so 
that the drunkard saith, I love a cup of good drink, 
and I cannot forbear it : the glutton saith, I love good 
cheer, and I cannot forbear; the fornicator saith, I love 
to have my lust fulfilled, and I cannot forbear ; and the 
gamester loves to have his sports, and he cannot for- 
bear. So that they are become even captivated slaves 
to their flesh, and their very wilfulness is become an 
impotency ; and what they would not do, they say they 
cannot. And the worldling is so taken up with earthly 
things, that he hath neither heart, nor mind, nor time, 
for heavenly; but, as in Pharaoh's dream, Gen. xli. 4. 
the lean kine did eat up the fat ones ; so this lean and 
barren earth doth eat up all the thoughts of heaven. 

5. Some are so carried away by the stream of evil 
company, that they are possessed with hard thoughts of 
a godly life, by hearing them speak against it ; or at 
least they think they may venture to do as they see 
most do, and so they hold on in their sinful ways ; and 
when one is cut off, and cast into hell, and another 
snatched away from among tnem to the same condem- 
nation, — it doth not much daunt them, because they 
see not whither they are gone. Poor wretches, they 
hold on in their ungodliness for ad this ; for they little 
know that their companions are now lamenting it in 
torments. In Luke xvi. the rich man in hell would 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



117 



fain have had one to warn his five brethren, lest they 
should come to that place of torment. It is likely he 
knew their minds and lives, and knew that they were 
hasting thither, and little dreamt that he was there, yea, 
and would little have believed one that should have 
told them so. I remember a passage that a gentleman, 
yet living, told me he saw upon a bridge over the 
Severn.*" A man was driving a flock of fat lambs, and 
something meeting them, and hindering their passage, 
one of the lambs leapt upon the wall of the bridge, 
and his legs slipping from under him, he fell into the 
stream ; the rest seeing him, did, one after one, leap 
over the bridge into the stream, and were all or almost 
all drowned. Those that were behind did little know 
what was become of them that were gone before ; but 
thought they might venture to follow their companions ; 
but as soon as ever they were over the wall, and falling 
headlong, the case was altered. 

Even so it is with unconverted carnal men. One dieth 
by them, and drops into hell, and another follows the 
same way; and yet they will go after them, because 
they think not whither they are gone. 0, but when 
death hath once opened their eyes, and they see what 
is on the other side of the wall, even in another world, 
then what would they give to be where they were ! 

6. Moreover, they have a subtle malicious enemy, 
that is unseen of them, and plays his game in the 
dark ; and it is his principal business to hinder their 
conversion ; and therefore to keep them where they 
are, by persuading them not to believe the Scriptures, 
or not to trouble their minds with these matters ; or by 
persuading them to think ill of a godly life, or to think 
that more is enjoined than need be, and that they may 
be saved without conversion, and without all this stir ; 
and that God is so merciful, that he will not damn any 
such as they ; or at least, that they may stay a little 
longer, and take their pleasure, and follow the world a 
little longer yet, and then let it go, and repent here- 
after. And by such juggling, deluding cheats as these, 



* Mr. R. Rowly, of Shrewsbury, upon Acham-Bridge. 



1 18 



A CALL TO 



the devil keeps the most in his capacity, and leadeth 
them to his misery. 

These, and such like impediments as these, do keep 
so many thousands unconverted, when God hath done 
so much, and Christ hath suffered so much, and minis- 
ters have said so much for their conversion : when 
their reasons are silenced and they are not ahle to an- 
swer the Lord that calls after them, " Turn ye, turn 
ye, why will ye die ?" yet all comes to nothing with the 
greatest part of them ; and they leave us no more to 
do after all, hut to sit down and lament their wilful 
misery. 

I have now showed you the reasonableness of God's 
commands, and the unreasonableness of wicked men's 
disobedience. If nothing will serve their turn, but men 
will yet refuse to turn, we are next to consider, who 
is in fault if they be damned. And this brings me to 
the last doctrine ; which is, 

Doctrine 7. That if after all this, men will not turn, 
it is not the fault of God that they are condemned, 
but their own, even their own wilfulness. They die 
because they will, that is, because they will not turn. 

If you will go to hell, what remedy ? God here ac- 
quits himself of your blood ; it shall not lie on him if 
you be lost. A negligent minister may draw it upon 
him ; and those that encourage you or hinder you not in 
sin, may draw it upon them ; but be sure of it, it shall 
not lie upon God. Saith the Lord concerning his un- 
profitable vineyard : Isa. v. 1 — 4. " Judge, I pray you, 
tetwixt me and my vineyard : what could have been 
done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?" 
When he had planted it in a fruitful soil, and fenced it, 
and gathered out the stones, and planted it with the 
choicest vines, what should he have done more to it? 
He hath made you men, and endowed you with rea- 
son ; he hath furnished you with all external necessa- 
ries ; all creatures are at your service; he hath given 
you a righteous perfect law. When ye had broken it, 
and undone yourselves, he had pity on you, and sent 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



119 



his Son by a miracle of condescending mercy to die for 
you, and be a sacrifice for your sins ; and he was in 
Christ reconciling the word to himself. 

The Lord Jesus hath made you a deed of gift o* 
himself, and eternal life with him, on the condition 
you will but accept it, and return. He hath on this 
reasonable condition offered you the free pardon of all 
your sins ! he hath written this in his word, and seal- 
ed it by his Spirit, and sent it by his ministers : they 
have made the offer to you a hundred and a hundred 
times, and called you to accept it, and to turn to God. 
They have in his name entreated you, and reasoned 
the case with you, and answered all your frivolous 
objections. He hath long waited on you, and staid 
your leisure, and suffered you to abuse him to his face t 
He hath mercifully sustained you in the midst of your 
sins ; he hath compassed you about with all sorts 
of mercies; he hath also intermixed afflictions, to re- 
mind you of your folly, and call you to your senses, 
and his Spirit has been often striving with your 
hearts, and saying there, c Turn, sinner, turn to him 
that calleth thee: Whither art thou going? What art 
thou doing? Dost thou know what will be the end? 
How long wilt thou hate thy friends, and love thine 
enemies ? When wilt thou let go all, and turn and de- 
liver thyself to God, and give thy redeemer the pos- 
session of thy soul ? When shall it once be ?' These 
pleadings have been used w T ith thee, and when thou 
hast delayed, thou hast been urged to make haste, and 
God hath called to thee, " To-day, while it is called 
to-day, harden not thy heart. 55 Why not now, with- 
out any more delay ? Life hath been set before you ; 
the joys of heaven have been opened to you in the 
gospel ; the certainty of them hath been manifested ; 
the certainty of the everlasting torments of the damned 
hath been declared to you ; unless you would have had 
a sight of heaven and hell, what could you desire 
more? Christ hath been as it were, set forth crucified 
before your eyes, Gal. iii. 1. You have been a hun- 
dred times told that you are but lost men till you come 
unto him ; as oft you have been told of the evil of sin,. 



A CALL TO 



of the vanity of sin, the world, and all the pleasures 
and wealth it can afford ; of the shortness and uncer- 
tainty of your lives, and the endless duration of the 
joy or torment of the life to come. All this, and more 
than this have you been told, and told again, even till 
you were weary of hearing it, and till you could make 
the lighter of it, because you had so often heard it, like 
the smith's dog, that is brought by custom to sleep 
under the noise of the hammers and when the sparks 
fly about his ears ; and though all this have not con- 
verted you, yet you are alive, and might have mercy 
to this day, if you had but hearts to entertain it. And 
now let reason itself be the judge, whether it be the 
fault of God or yours, if after this you will be uncon- 
verted and be damned. If you die now, it is because 
you will die. What should be said more to you, or 
what course should be taken that is more likely to pre- 
vail ? Are you able to say and make it good, £ We 
would fain have been converted and become new 
creatures, but we could not ; we would fain have for- 
saken our sins, but we could not ; we would have 
changed our company, and our thoughts, and our dis- 
course, but we could not.' Why could you not, if you 
would ? W'hat hindered you but. the wickedness of 
your hearts ? Who forced you to sin, or who held you 
back from duty ? Had not you the same teaching, and 
time, and liberty to be godly, as your godly neighbours 
had ? W^hy then could not you have been godly as 
well as they ? Were the church doors shut against you, 
or did you not keep away yourselves, or sit and sleep, 
or hear as if you did not hear? Did God put in any 
exceptions against you in his word, when he invited 
sinners to return ; and when he promised mercy to 
those that do return ? Did he say, c I will pardon all 
that repent except thee ?' Did he shut thee out from 
the liberty of his holy worship ? Did he forbid you to 
pray to him any more than others ? You know he did 
not. God did not drive you away from him, but you 
forsook him, and ran away yourselves, and when he 
called you to him, you would not come. If God had 
excepted you out of the general promise and offer of 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



121 



mercy, or had said to you, c Stand off, I will have 
nothing to do with such as you ; pray not to me, for I 
will not hear you ; if you repent never so much, and 
cry for mercy never so much, I will not regard you.' 
If God had left you nothing to trust to but despera- 
tion, then you had had a fair excuse ; you might have 
said, 4 To what end do I repent and turn, when it will 
•do no good?' But this was not your case : you might 
have had Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, your 
head and husband, as well as others, and you would 
not, because you felt yourselves not sick enough for the 
physician ; and because you could not spare your dis- 
ease. In your hearts you said as those rebels, Luke 
xix. 14. " We will not have this man to reign over us." 
Christ would have gathered you under the wings of 
his salvation, and you would not. Matt, xxiii. 37. 
What desires of your welfare did the Lord express in 
his holy word? With what compassion did he stand 
over you, and say, " 0 that my people had hearkened 
unto me, and that they had walked in my ways !" 
Psalm xvii. 13. lxxvi. 13. "0 that there were such a 
heart in this people, that they would fear me, and keep 
all my commandments always ; that it might be well 
with them and with their children for ever ! 3J Deut. v. 
29. " 0 that they were wise, that they understood 
this, that they would consider their latter end !" 
Deut. xxxii. 29. He would have been your God, and 
done all for you that your souls could well desire: 
but you loved the world and your flesh above him, and 
therefore you would not hearken to him : though you 
complimented him, and gave him high titles ; yet when 
it came to the closing, you would have none of him. 
Psalm lxxxi. 11. 12. "No marvel then if he gave you 
up to your own hearts' lusts, and you walked in your 
own councils. He condescends to reason, and pleads 
the case with you, and asks you, ' What is there in 
me, or my service, that you should be so much against 
me? What harm have I done thee, sinner? Havel 
deserved this unkind dealing at thy hand? Many mer- 
cies have I showed thee : for which of them dost thou 
thus despise me? Is it I, oris it Satan, that is thy 
11 



122 



A CALL TO 



enemy ? Is it I, or is it thy carnal self that would undo 
thee ? Is it a holy life, or a life of sin that thou hast 
cause to fly from ? If thou be undone, thou procurest 
this to thyself, by forsaking me, the Lord that would 
have saved thee. 5 Jer. ii. 7. "Doth not thy own 
wickedness correct thee, and thy sin reprove thee? 
Thou mayst see that it is an evil and bitter thing 
that thou hast forsaken me.' 5 Jer. ii. 19. " What ini - 
quity have you found in me that you have followed 
after vanity, and forsaken me ?" Jer. ii. 5, 6. He 
calleth out, as it were, to the brutes., to hear the con- 
troversy he hath against you. Mic. ii. 3 — 5. " Hear, 
O ye mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong 
foundations of the earth ; for the Lord hath a contro- 
versy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 
O my people, what have I done unto thee, and wherein 
have I wearied thee ? testify against me, for I brought 
thee up out of Egypt, and redeemed thee." " Hear, O 
heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath 
spoken. I have nourished and brought up children^ 
and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth 
his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel 
doth not know, my people doth not consider ! Ah sin- 
ful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil 
doers !" &c. Is. i. 2 — 4. " Do you thus requite the 
Lord, 0 foolish people, and unwise ? Is not he thy fa- 
ther that bought thee ? Hath he not made thee, and 
established thee ?" Deut. xxxii. 6. When he saw that 
you forsook him, even for nothing, and turned away 
from your Lord and life, to hunt after the chaff and fea- 
thers of the world, he told you of your folly, and called 
you to a more profitable employment, Isa. lv. 1 — 3. 
" Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which 
is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth. 
not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that, 
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.,. 
Incline your ear and come unto me ; hear, and your 
soul shall live ; and I will make an everlasting cove- 
nant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Seek 
ye the Lord while he may be found : call ye upon him. 
while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



123 



the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return 
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and 
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon," and so 
Isa. i. 16 — 18. And when you would not hear, what 
complaints have you put him to, charging it on you as 
your wilfulness and stubbornness. Jer. ii. 12, 13. 
" Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and he horribly 
afraid ; for my people have committed two evils ; they 
have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and 
hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold 
no water." Many a time hath Christ proclaimed that 
free invitation to you, Rev. xxii. 17. "Let him that 
is athirst, come, and whosoever will, let him take the 
water of liie freely." But you put him to complain, 
after all his offers : " They will not come to me, that 
they may have life." John v. 40. He hath invited 
you to feast with -him in the kingdom of his grace, and 
you have had excuses from your grounds, and your 
cattle, and your worldly business ; and when you would 
not come, you have said you could not ; and provoked 
him to resolve that you should never taste of his sup- 
per, Luke xiv. 16 — 25. And who is it the fault of now 
but yourselves ? and what can you say is the chief cause 
of your damnation but your own wills ? you would be 
damned. The whole case is laid open by Christ him- 
self, Prov. i. 20 — 33. " Wisdom crieth without, she 
uttereth her voice in the streets ; she crieth in the chief 
place of the concourse, — How long, ye simple ones, 
will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their 
scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn ye at my 
reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit upon you, 
I will make known my words unto you. Because I 
have called, and ye refused. I have stretched out my 
hands and no man regarded ; but ye have set at naught 
all my counsels, and would none of my reproofs. I 
also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when 
your fear cometh : when your fear cometh as desola- 
tion, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind ; 
when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall 
they call upon me, but I will not answer ; they shall 
seek me early, but they shall not find me ; for that they 



124 A CALL TO 

hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the 
Lord. They would none of my counsels : they des- 
pised all my reproofs ; therefore shall they eat of the 
fruit of their own way, and he filled with their own 
devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay 
them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 
But whoso hearkeneth to me shall dwell safely, and 
shall he quiet from the fear of evil. 55 I thought hest to 
recite the whole text at large to you, because it doth 
so fully show the cause of the destruction of the wicked. 
It is not because God would not teach them, but be- 
cause they would not learn. It is not because God 
would not call them, but because they would not turn 
at his reproof. Their wilfulness is their undoing. 

Use. — From what hath been said, you may further 
learn these following things : 

1. From hence you may see, not only v/hat blas- 
phemy and impiety it is to lay the blame of men's 
destruction upon God ; but also how unfit these wicked 
wretches are to bring in such a charge against their 
Maker ! They cry out upon God, and say he gives 
them not grace, and his threatenings are severe, and 
God forbid that all should be condemned that be not 
converted and sanctified ; and they think it hard mea- 
sure that a short sin should have an endless suffering ; 
and if they be damned, they say they cannot help it,, 
when in the mean time they are busy about their own 
destruction, even the destruction of their own souls, 
and will not be persuaded to hold their hands. They 
think God were cruel, if he should condemn them ; 
and yet they are so cruel to themselves, that they will 
run into the fire of hell, when God hath told them it is 
a little before them ; and neither entreaties, nor threat- 
enings, nor any thing that can be said, will stop them. 
We see them almost undone ; their careless, worldly, 
fleshly lives tell us that they are in the power of the 
devil ; we know, if they die before they are converted, 
all the world cannot save them; and knowing the 
uncertainty of their lives, we are afraid every day lest 
they drop into the fire : and therefore we entreat them 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



125 



to pity their own souls, and not to undo themselves 
when mercy is at hand ; and they will not hear us. 
We entreat them to cast away their sin, and come to 
Christ without delay, and to have some mercy on 
themselves, but they will have none ; and yet they 
think that God must be cruel if he condemn them. O 
wilful miserable sinners ! it is not God that is cruel to 
you, it is you that are cruel to yourselves ; you are 
told you must turn or burn, and yet you turn not. You 
are told that if you will needs keep your sins, you shall 
keep the curse of God with them ; and yet you will 
keep them. You are told that there is no way to hap- 
piness but by holiness ; and yet you will not be holy. 
What would you have God say more to you ? What 
would you have him do with his mercy ? He ofFereth 
it to you, and you will not have it. You are in the 
ditch of sin, and misery, and he would give you his 
hand to help you out, and you refuse his help ; he 
would cleanse you of your sins, and you had rather 
keep them ; you love your lust, and love your gluttony 
and sports, and drunkenness, and will not let them go ; 
would you have him bring you to heaven whether 
you will or not ? Or would you have him bring you 
and your sins to heaven together ? Why, that is an 
impossibility ; you may as well expect he should turn 
the sun into darkness. What ! an unsanctified fleshly 
heart be in heaven ? it cannot be. There entereth 
nothing that is unclean. Rev. xxi. 17. " For what 
communion hath light with darkness, or Christ with 
Belial !" 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. " All the day long hath he 
stretched out his hands to a disobedient and gainsaying 
people." Rom. x. 21. What will you do now? Will 
you cry to God for mercy ? Why, God calleth upon 
you to have mercy upon yourselves, and you will not ! 
Ministers see the poisoned cup in the drunkard's hand, 
and tell him there is poison in it, and desire him to 
have mercy on his soul, and forbear, and he will not 
hear us I Drink it he must and will ; he loves it, and 
therefore, though hell comes next, he saith he can- 
not help it. What should one say to such men as 
these? We tell the ungodly careless worldling, it is 
11* 



126 



A CALL TO 



not such a life that will serve the turn, or ever bring 
you to heaven. If a bear were at your back, you 
would mend your pace ; and when the curse of God 
is at your back, and Satan and hell are at your back, 
will you not stir, but ask, What needs all this ado ? 
Is an immortal soul of no more worth ? 0 have mercy 
upon yourselves! But they will have no mercy on 
themselves, nor once regard us. We tell them the 
end will be bitter. Who can dwell with the everlast- 
ing fire ? And yet they will have no mercy on them- 
selves. And yet will these shameless transgressors 
say, that God is more merciful than to condemn them; 
when it is themselves that cruelly and unmercifully run 
upon condemnation ; and if we should go to them, 
and entreat them, we cannot stop them ; if we should 
fall on our knees to them, we cannot stop them, but ta 
hell they will go, and yet will not believe that they 
are going thither. If we beg of them for the sake of 
God that made them, and preserveth them; for the 
sake of Christ, that died for them ; for the sake of their 
own souls, to pity themselves, and go no further in 
the way to hell, but come to Christ while his arms are 
open, and enter into the state of life while the door 
stands open, and now take mercy while mercy may be 
had, they will not be persuaded. If we should die for 
it, we cannot so much as get them now and then to 
consider with themselves of the matter, and turn ; and 
yet they can say, ' I hope God will be merciful. 5 Did 
you never consider what he saith, Isa. xxvii. 11. "It 
is a people of no understanding ; therefore, he that 
made them will not have mercy on them, and he that 
formed them will show them no favour. 53 If another 
man will not clothe you when you are naked, and feed 
you when you are hungry, you will say he is unmerci- 
ful. If he should cast you into prison, or beat and tor- 
ment you, you would say he is unmerciful ; and yet 
you will do a thousand times more against yourselves, 
even cast away both soul and body for ever, and never 
complain of your own unmercifulness ! Yea, and God 
that waited upon you all the while with his mercy* 
must be taken to be unmerciful, if he punish you after 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



127 



all this. Unless the holy God of heaven will give these 
wretches leave to trample upon his Son's blood, and 
with the Jews, as it were, again to spit in his face, 
and do despite to the spirit of grace, and make a jest 
of sin, and a mock at holiness, and set more light by 
saving mercy than by the filth of their fleshly plea- 
sures; and unless, after all this, he will save them by 
the mercy which they cast away and would have none 
of, God himself must be called unmerciful by them t 
But he will be justified when he judgeth, and he will 
not stand or fall at the bar of a sinful worm. 

I know there are many particular cavils that are 
brought by them against the Lord ; but I shall not 
here stay to answer them particularly, having done it 
already in my Treatise of Judgment, to which I shall 
refer them. Had the disputing part of the world been 
as careful to avoid sin and destruction, as they have 
been busy in searching after the cause of them, and 
forward indirectly to impute it to God, they might 
have exercised their wits more profitably, and have 
less wronged God, and sped better themselves. When 
so ugly a monster as sin is within us, and so heavy a 
thing as punishment is on us, and so dreadful a thing 
as hell is before us, one would think it should be an 
easy question, who is in the fault, whether God or man 
be the principal or culpable cause ? Some men are 
such favourable judges of themselves, that they are 
more prone to accuse the infinite perfection and good- 
ness itself, tjian their own hearts, and imitate their first 
parents, that said, " The serpent tempted me ; and 
the woman that thou gavest me, gave unto me, and I 
did eat; 55 secretly implying that God was the cause,. 
So say they ; " The understanding that thou gavest 
me was unable to discern ; the will that thou gavest 
me was unable to make a better choice ; the objects 
which thou didst set before me did entice me ; the 
temptations which thou didst permit to assault me pre- 
vailed against me. 55 And some are so loth to think 
that God can make a self-determining creature, that 
they dare not deny him that which they take to be his 
prerogative, to be the determiner of the will in every 



128 



A CALL TO 



sin, as the first efficient immediate physical cause ; and 
many could be content to acquit God from so much 
causing of evil, if they could hut reconcile it with his 
"being the chief cause of good ; as if truths would be no 
longer truths than we are able to see them in their 
perfect order and coherence : because our ravelled wits 
cannot see them right together, nor assign each truth its 
proper place, we presume to conclude that, some must 
be cast away. This is the fruit of proud self-conceit- 
edness, when men receive not God's truth as a child 
his lesson, in holy submission to the omniscience of our 
Teacher, but censurers, that are too wise to learn. 

Object. But we cannot convert ourselves till God con- 
vert us; we can do nothing without his grace; it is 
.not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in 
God that showeth mercy. 

Answ. 1. God hath two degrees of mercy to show; 
the mercy of conversion first, and the mercy of salva- 
tion last ; the latter he will give to none but those that 
will and run, and hath promised it to them only. The 
former is to make them willing that are unwilling ; and 
though your own willingness and endeavours deserve 
not his grace, yet your wilful refusal deserveth that it 
should be denied to you. Your disability is your very 
unwillingness itself, which excuseth not your sin, 
but maketh it the greater. You could turn if you were 
but truly willing ; and if your wills themselves are so 
corrupted, that nothing but effectual grace will move 
them, you have more cause to seek for that grace, 
and yield to it, and do what you can in the use of 
means, and not neglect it, and set against it. Do what 
you are able first, and then complain of God for deny- 
ing you grace, if you have cause. 

Object. But you seem to intimate all this while that 
man hath free will. 

Jlnsw. 1. The dispute about free will is beyond your 
capacity ; I shall therefore now trouble you with no 
more but this about it. Your will is naturally a free, 
that is, a self-determining faculty ; but it is viciously 
Inclined, and backward to do good ; and therefore we 
see, by sad experience, that it hath not a virtuous 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



129 



moral freedom : but that it is the wickedness of it 
which deserveth the punishment ; and I pray you, 
let us not befool ourselves with opinions. Let the case 
be your own. If you had an enemy that was so mali- 
cious as to fail upon you, and beat you, or take away 
the lives of your children, would you excuse him, be- 
cause he said, I have not free will ; it is my nature ; I 
cannot choose unless God give me grace ? If you had 
a servant that robbed you, would you take such an 
answer from him ? Might not every thief and mur- 
derer that is hanged at the assize give such an answer : 
I have not free will; I cannot change my own heart; 
what can I do without God's grace ? and shall they 
therefore be acquitted ? If not, why then should you 
think to be acquitted for a course of sin against the 
Lord ? 

2. From hence also you may observe these three 
things together : — 1. What a subtle tempter Satan is» 
2. What a deceitful thing sin is. 3. What a foolish 
creature corrupted man is. A subtle tempter indeed, that 
can persuade the greatest part of the world to go into 
everlasting fire, when they have so many warnings 
and dissuasives as they have ! A deceitful thing is sin 
indeed, that can bewitch so many thousands to part 
with everlasting life, for a thing so base and utterly 
unworthy ! A foolish creature is man indeed, that will 
be cheated of his salvation for nothing, yea, for a 
known nothing ; and that by an enemy, and a known 
enemy. You would think it impossible that any man 
in his wits should be persuaded for a little to cast him- 
self into the fire, or water, or into a coal-pit, to the 
destruction of his life ; and yet men will be enticed ta 
cast themselves into hell. If your natural lives were 
in your own hands, that you should not die till you 
would kill yourselves, how long would most of you 
live ? And yet when your everlasting life is so far in 
your own hands under God, that you cannot be undone 
till you undo yourselves, how few of you will forbear 
your own undoing ? Ah, what a silly thing is man ! 
and what a bewitching and befooling thing is sin ! 

3. From hence also you may learn, that it is no great 



130 



A CA.LL TO 



wonder if wicked men be hinderers of others in the 
way to heaven, and would have as many unconverted 
as they can, and would draw them into sin, and keep 
them in it. Can you expect that they should have 
mercy on others, that have none upon themselves ? and 
that they should hesitate much at the destruction of 
others, that hesitate not to destroy themselves ? They 
do no worse by others than they do by themselves. 

4. Lastly, You may hence learn that the greatest 
enemy to man is himself ; and the greatest judgment 
in this life that can befall him, is to be left to himself ; 
that the great work that grace hath to do, is to save 
us from ourselves ; that the greatest accusations and 
complaints of men should be against themselves ; that 
the greatest work that we have to do ourselves, is to 
resist ourselves ; and the greatest enemy that we should 
daily pray, and watch, and strive against, is our own 
carnal hearts and wills ; and the greatest part of your 
work, if you would do good to others, and help them 
to heaven, is to save them from themselves, even from 
their blind understandings and corrupted wills, and 
perverse affections, and violent passions, and unruly 
senses. I only name all these for brevity's sake, and 
leave them to your further consideration. 

Well, sirs, now we have found out the great delin- 
quent and murderer of souls, (even men's selves, their 
own wills,) what remains but that you judge accord- 
ing to the evidence, and confess this great iniquity 
before the Lord, and be humbled for it, and do so no 
more? To these three ends distinctly, I shall add a 
few words more. 1. Further to convince you. 2. To 
humble you. And, 3. To reform you if there yet be 
any hope. 

1. We know so much of the exceeding gracious 
nature of God, who is willing to do good, and delight- 
•eth to show mercy, that we have no reason to suspect 
him of being the culpable cause of our death, or to call 
him cruel ; he made all good, and he preserve th and 
maintaineth all : the eyes of all wait upon him, and he 
giveth them their meat in due season ; he openeth his 
hand, and satisfieth the desires of all the living. Psalm 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



131 



cxlv. 15, 16. He is not only righteous in all his waysj 
and therefore will deal justly ; and holy in all his works, 
and therefore not the author of sin ; hut he is also good 
to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. 
Psalm cxlv. 17, 19. 

But as for man, we know his mind is dark, his will 
perverse, and his affections carry him so headlong, that 
he is fitted by his folly and corruption to such a work 
as the destroying of himself. If you saw a lamb lie 
killed in the way, would you sooner suspect the sheep, 
or the dog, or the wolf, to be the author of it, if they 
both stand by ? Or if you see a house broken open 
and the people murdered, would you sooner suspect 
the prince or judge, that is wise and just, and had no 
need, or a known thief or murderer ? I say therefore, 
as James i. 13 — 15, "Let no man say, when he is 
tempted, that he is tempted of God, for God cannot be 
tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man to draw 
him to sin ; but every man is tempted, when he is 
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when 
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin ? 
when it is finished, bringeth forth death." You see 
here that sin is the offspring of your own concupiscence^ 
and not to be charged on God, and that death is the 
offspring of your own sin, and the fruit which it will 
yield you as soon as it is ripe. You have a treasure 
of evil in yourselves, as a spider hath of poison, from 
whence you are bringing forth hurt to yourselves, and 
spinning such webs as entangle your own souls. Your 
nature shows it is you that are the cause. 

2. It is evident that you are your own destroyers,*in 
that you are so ready to entertain any temptation 
almost that is offered you. Satan is scarcely more 
ready to move you to any evil, than you are ready to 
hear, and to do as he would have you. If he would 
tempt your understanding to error and prejudice, yoi* 
yield. If he would hinder you from good resolutions, 
it is soon done. If he would cool any good desires or 
affections, it is soon done. If he would kindle any lust,, 
or vile affections and desires in you, it is soon done. If 
he will put you on to evil thoughts, or deeds, you are 



132 



A CALL TO 



so free 3 that he needs no rod or spur If he would 
keep you from holy thoughts, and words, and ways, a 
little doth it, you need no curb. You examine not his 
suggestions, nor resist them with any resolution, nor 
cast them out as he casts them in, nor quench the 
sparks which he endeavoureth to kindle ; but you set 
in with him, and meet him half way, and embrace his 
motions, and tempt him to tempt you. And it is easy 
to catch such greedy fish that are ranging for a bait, 
and will take the bare hook. 

3. Your destruction is evidently of yourselves, in that 
you resist all that would help to save you, and would 
do you good, or hinder you from undoing yourselves. 
God would help and save you by his word, and you 
resist it : it is too strict for you. He would sanctify 
you by his Spirit, and you resist and quench it. If 
any man reprove you for your sin, you fly in his face 
with evil words : and if he would draw you to a holy 
life, and tell you of your present danger, you give him 
little thanks, but either bid him look to himself, he shall 
not answer for you ; else, at best, you put him off with 
heartless thanks, and will not turn when you are per- 
suaded. If ministers would privately instruct and help 
you, you will not come to them ; your unhumbled souls 
feel but little need of their help ; if they would catechise 
you, you are too old to be catechised, though, you 
are not too old to be ignorant and unholy. Whatever 
they can say to you for your good, you are so self-con- 
ceited and wise in your own eyes, even in the depth of 
ignorance, that you will regard nothing that agreeth not 
with your present conceits, but contradict your teachers, 
as if you were wiser than they ; you resist all that they 
can say to you by your ignorance, and wilfulness, and 
foolish cavils, and shifting evasions, and unthankful re- 
jections, so that no good that is offered can find any wel- 
come acceptance and entertainment with you. 

4. Moreover, it is apparent that you are self-destroy* 
€rs, in that you "draw the matter of your sin and 
destruction even from the blessed God himself." You 
like not the contrivances of his wisdom ; you like not 
his justice, but take it for cruelty; you like not his 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



133 



holiness, but are ready to think he is such a one as 
yourselves, Psalm 1. 21. and makes as light of sin as 
you ; you like not his truth, but would have his threat- 
enings, even his peremptory threatenings, prove false ; 
and his goodness, which you seem most highly to ap- 
prove, you partly resist, as it would lead you to repent- 
ance ; and partly abuse, to the strengthening of your 
sin, as if you might more freely sin because God is 
merciful, and because his grace doth so much abound. 

5. Yea, you fetch destruction from the blessed Re- 
deemer, and death from the Lord of life himself! and 
nothing more emboldeneth you in sin, than that Christ 
hath died for you ; as if now the danger of death were 
over, and you might boldly venture ; as if Christ were 
become a servant to Satan and your sins, and must 
wait upon you while you are abusing him ; and because 
he is become the Physician of souls, and is able to save 
to the uttermost all that come to God by him, you 
think he must suffer you to refuse his help, and throw 
away his medicines, and must save you whether you 
will come to God by him or not : so that a great part 
of your sins are occasioned by your bold presumption 
upon the death of Christ, — not considering that he 
came to redeem his people from their sins, and to sanc- 
tify them a peculiar people to himself, and to conform 
them in holiness to the image of their heavenly Father, 
and to their head. Mat. i. 21. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 15, 
16. Col. iii. 10, 11. Phil. iii. 9, 10. 

6. You also fetch your own destruction from all the 
providences and works of God. When you think of 
his eternal fore-knowledge and decrees, it is to harden 
you in your sin, or possess your minds with quarrelling 
thoughts, as if his decrees might spare you the labour 
of repentance and a holy life, or else were the cause of 
sin and death. If he afflict you, you repine ; if he 
prosper you, you the more forget him, and are the 
more backward to the thoughts of the life to come. If 
the wicked prosper, you forget the end that will set all 
reckonings straight, and are ready to think it is as good 
to be wicked as godly \ and thus you draw your death 
from all. 

12 



134 



A CALL TO 



7. And the like you do from all the creatures an & 
mercies of God to you. He giveth them to you as the 
tokens of his love and furniture for his service, and 
you turn them against him, to the pleasing of your 
flesh. You eat and drink to please your appetite, and 
not for the glory of God, and to enable you to perform 
his work. Your clothes you abuse to pride ; your 
riches draw your hearts from heaven, Phil. iii. 18 ; your 
honours and applause puff you up; if you have health 
and strength, it makes you more secure, and forget 
your end. Yea, other men's mercies are abused by 
you to your hurt. If you see their honours and dig- 
nity, you are provoked to envy them ; if you see their 
riches, you are ready to covet them ; if you look upon 
beauty, you are stirred up to lust ; and it is well if 
godliness be not an eye-sore to you. 

8. The very gifts that God bestoweth on you, and 
the ordinances of grace which he hath instituted for 
his church, you turn to sin. If you have better parts 
than others, you grow proud and self-conceited ; if 
you have but common gifts, you take them for special 
grace. You take the bare hearing of your duty for so 
good a work, as if it would excuse you for not obeying 
it. Your prayers are turned into sin, because you " re- 
gard iniquity in your hearts," Ps. lxvi. 18. and depart 
not from iniquity when you call on the name of the 
Lord. 2 Tim. ii. 19. Your "prayers are abominable,, 
because you turn away your ear from hearing the law,' 3 
Prov. xxviii. 9, and are more ready to offer the sacri~ 
flee of fools, thinking you do God some special service^., 
than to hear his word and obey it. Eccles. v. 1. 

9. Yea, the persons that you converse with, and all* 
their actions, you make the occasions of your sin and 
destruction ; if they live in the fear of God, you hate 
them. If they live ungodly, you imitate them ; if the 
wicked are many, you think you may the more boldly 
follow them ; if the godly be few^ you are the more 
emboldened to despise them. If they walk exactly, you 
think they are too precise ; if one of them fall in a par- 
ticular temptation, you stumble and turn away from* 
holiness, because that others are imperfectly holy \ as 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



135 



if you were warranted to break your necks, because 
some others have by their heedlessness strained a sinew, 
or put out a bone. If a hypocrite discover himself, you 
say 6 They are all alike, 5 and think yourselves as honest 
as the best. A professor can scarce slip into any 
miscarriage, but because he cuts his ringer, you think 
you may boldly cut your throats. If ministers deal 
plainly with you, you say they rail. If they speak gently 
or coldly, you either sleep under them, or are little 
more affected than the seats you sit upon. If any 
errors creep into the church, some greedily en- 
tertain them, and others reproach the Christian doc- 
trine for them, which is most against them. And if we 
would draw you from any ancient rooted error, which 
can but plead two, or three, or six, or seven hundred 
years' custom, you are as much offended with a motion 
for reformation as if you were to lose your life by it, 
and hold fast old errors, while you cry out against new 
ones. Scarce a difference can arise among the minis- 
ters of the gospel, but you will fetch your own death 
from it ; and you will not hear or at least not obey, the 
unquestionable doctrine of any of those that agree not 
with your conceits. One will not hear a minister, be- 
cause he saith the Lord's prayer ; and another will 
not hear him because he doth not use it. One will 
not hear them that are for episcopacy ; and another 
will not hear them that are against it. And thus I 
might show it you in many other cases, how you turn 
all that comes near you to your own destruction ; so 
dear is it that the ungodly are self-destroyers, and that 
their perdition is of themselves. 

Methinks now, upon the consideration of what is 
said, and the review of your own ways, you should be- 
think you what you have done, and be ashamed and 
deeply humbled to remember it. If you be not, I pray 
you consider these following truths : — 

1. To be your own destroyers, is to sin against the 
deepest principle in your natures, even the principle of 
self-preservation. Every thing naturally desireth or in- 
clineth to its own felicity, welfare, or perfection ; and 
will you set yourselves to your own destruction? 



136 



A CALL TO 



When you are commanded to love your neighbours as 
yourselves, it is supposed that you naturally love your- 
selves ; but if you love your neighbours no better than 
yourselves, it seems you would have all the world to be 
damned. 

2. How extremely do you cross your own intentions ! 
1 know you intend not your own damnation, even when 
you are procuring it; you think you are but doing 
good to yourselves, by gratifying the desires of your 
flesh. But, alas, it is but as a draught of cold water in 
a burning fever, or as the scratching of an itching 
wild-fire, which increaseth the disease and pain. If 
indeed you would have pleasure, profit, or honour, seek 
them where they are to be found, and do not hunt after 
them in the way to hell. 

3. What pity is it that you should do that against 
yourselves which none else on earth or in hell can do ! 
If all the world were combined against you, or all the 
devils in hell were combined against you, they could 
not destroy you without yourselves, nor make you sin 
but by your own consent ; and will you do that against 
yourselves which no one else can do ? You have hate- 
Jul thoughts of the devil, because he is your enemy, and 
endeavoureth your destruction ; and will you be worse 
than devils to yourselves ? Why, thus it is with you, 
if you had hearts to understand it; when you run into 
sin, and run from godliness, and refuse to turn at the 
call of God, you do more against your own souls than 
men or devils could do besides ; and if you should set 
yourselves and bend your wits to do yourselves the 
greatest mischief, you could not devise to do a greater. 

4. You are false to the trust that God hath reposed 
in you. He hath much intrusted you with your own 
salvation ; and will you betray your trust ? He hath 
set you, with all diligence, to keep your hearts ; and is 
this the keeping of them. Prov. iv. 23. 

5. You do even forbid all others to pity you. when 
you will have no pity on yourselves. If you cry to God 
in the day of your calamity, for mercy, mercy — what 
can you expect, but that he should thrust you away, 
and say, ' Nay, thou wouldst not have mercy on thy 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



137 



self ; who brought this upon thee but thy own wilful- 
ness ?' And if your brethren see you everlastingly in 
misery, how shall they pity you that were your own 
destroyers, and would not be dissuaded ? 

6. It will everlastingly make you your own tormen- 
tors in hell, to think that you brought yourselves wil- 
fully to that misery. O what a piercing thought it will 
be for ever to think with yourselves that this was your 
own doing ! that you were warned of this day, and 
warned again, but it would not do ; that you wilfully 
sinned, and wilfully turned away from God ! that you 
had time as well as others, but you abused it ; you had 
teachers as well as others, but you refused their in- 
struction ; you had holy examples, but you did not 
imitate them ; you were offered Christ, and grace, 
and glory, as well as others, but you had more mind of 
your fleshly pleasures ! you had a price in your hands, 
but you had not a heart to lay it out. Prov. xvii. 16. 
Can it fail to torment you to think of this your present 
folly ? O that your eyes were open to see what 
you have done in the w T ilful wronging of your own 
souls ! and that you better understood these words of 
God, Prov. viii. 33 — 36. " Hear instruction and be 
wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that hear- 
eth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the 
posts of my doors : for whoso fmdeth me findeth life, 
and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sin- 
neth against me, wrongeth his own soul. All they that 
hate me love death." 

And now I am come to the conclusion of this work, 
my heart is troubled to think how I shall leave you, lest 
after this the flesh should still deceive you, and the 
world and the devil should keep }^ou asleep, and I should 
leave you as I found you, till you awake in hell. 
Though in care of your poor souls, I am afraid of 
this, as knowing the obstinacy of a carnal heart ; yet I 
can say with the prophet Jeremiah, xvii. 16. " I have 
not desired the woful day, thou Lord knowest." I have 
not with James and John desired that " fire might 
come from heaven" to consume them that refused Jesus 
Christ. Luke ix. 54. But it is the preventing of the . 



138 



A CALL TO 



eternal fire that I have been all this while endeavour- 
ing : and 0 that it had been a needless work ! That 
God and conscience might have been as willing to spare 
me this labour as some of you could have been. Dear 
friends, I am so loth that you should lie in everlasting 
fire, and be shut out of heaven, if it be possible to pre- 
vent it, that I shall once more ask you, what do you 
now resolve ? Will you turn or die ? I look upon you 
as a physician on his patient, in a dangerous disease, 
that saith to him, c Though you are far gone, take but 
this medicine, and forbear but those few things that are 
hurtful to you, and I dare warrant your life ; but if you 
will not do this, you are but a dead man. 5 What 
would you think of such a man, if the physician, and 
all the friends he hath, cannot persuade him to take 
one medicine to save his life, or to forbear one or two 
poisonous things that would kill him ? This is your 
case. As far as you are gone in sin, do but now turn 
and come to Christ, and take his remedies, and your 
souls shall live. Cast up your deadly sins by repent- 
ance, and return not to the poisonous vomit any more, 
and you shall do well. But yet, if it were your bodies 
that we had to deal with, we might partly know what 
to do for you. Though you would not consent, yet 
you might be held or bound while the medicine were 
poured down your throats, and hurtful things might be 
kept from you. But about your souls it cannot be so; 
we cannot convert you against your wills. There is no 
carrying madmen to heaven in fetters. You may be 
condemned against your wills, because you sinned with 
your wills ; but you cannot be saved against your 
wills. The wisdom of God has thought meet to lay 
men's salvation or destruction exceedingly much upon 
the choice of their own will, that no man shall come 
to heaven that chose not the way to heaven ; and no 
man shall come to hell, but shall be forced to say, 'I 
have the thing I chose ; my own will did bring me 
hither. 5 Now, if I could but get you to be willing, to 
be thoroughly, and resolvedly, and habitually willing, 
the work were more than half done. And alas ! must 
We lose our friends, and must they lose their God, their 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



139 



happiness, their souls, for want of this ? O God forbid ! 
It is a strange thing to me that men are so inhuman 
and stupid in the greatest matters, who in lesser things 
are civil and courteous, and good neighbours. For 
aught I know, I have the love of all, or almost all my 
neighbours, so far, that if I should send to any man in 
the town, or parish, or country, and request a reason- 
able courtesy of them, they would grant it me ; and 
yet when I come to request of them the greatest mat- 
ter in the world, for themselves, and not for me, I can 
have nothing of many of them hut a patient hearing. 
I know not whether people think a man in the pulpit 
is in good earnest or not, and means as he speaks ; for 
I think I have few neighbours, but, if I were sitting 
familiarly with them, and telling them what I have 
seen and done, or known in the world, they themselves 
shall see and kuow in the world to come, they would 
believe me, and regard what I say ; but when I tell 
them, from the infallible word of God, what they them- 
selves shall see and know in the world to come, they 
show by their lives, that they do either not believe it or 
not much regard it. If I met any one of them on the 
way, and told them yonder is a coal-pit, or there is a 
quicksand, or there are thieves lying in wait for you, I 
could persuade them to turn by ; but when I tell them 
that Satan lieth in wait for them, and that sin is poison 
to them, and that hell is not a matter to be jested with, 
they go on as if they did not hear me. Truly, neigh- 
bours, I am in as good earnest with you in the pulpit 
as I am in my familiar discourse ; and if ever you will 
regard me, 1 beseech you let it be here. I think there 
is not a man of you all, but, if my own soul lie at your 
wills, you would be willing to save it, though I cannot 
promise that you would leave your sins for it. Tell 
me, thou drunkard, art thou so cruel to me, that thou 
wouldst not forbear a few cups of drink, if thou knew- 
est it would save my soul from hell ? Hadst thou ra- 
ther that I did burn there for ever than thou shouldst 
live soberly as other men do ? If so, may I not say, 
thou art an unmerciful monster, and not a man? If 
I came hungry or naked to one of your doors, would 



140 



A CALL TO 



you not part with more than a cup of drink to relieve 
me ? I am confident you would. If it were to save 
my life, I know you would some of you hazard your 
own ; and yet will you not be entreated to part with 
your sensual pleasures for your own salvation ? 
Wouldst thou forbear a hundred cups of drink, to save 
my life, if it were in thy power, and wilt thou not do 
it to save thy own soul ? I profess to you, sirs, I am 
as hearty a beggar with you this day for the saving 
of your own souls, as I would be for my own supply, 
if I were forced to come begging to your doors ; and 
therefore if you would hear me then, hear me now. 
If you would pity me then, be entreated now to pity 
yourselves. I do again beseech you, as if it were on 
my bended knees, that you would hearken to your 
Redeemer, and turn, that you may live. All you that 
have lived in ignorance, and carelessness, and pre- 
sumption to this day ; all you that have been drowned 
in the cares of the world, and have no mind of God, 
and eternal glory ; all you that are enslaved to your 
fleshly desires of meats and drinks, sports and lusts ; 
and all you that know not the necessity of holiness, 
and never were acquainted with the sanctifying work 
of the Holy Ghost upon your souls ; that never em- 
braced your blessed Redeemer by a livery faith, and 
w T ith admiring and thankful apprehensions of his love ; 
and that never felt a higher estimation of God and 
heaven, and heartier love to them than to your fleshly 
prosperity, and the things below, — I earnestly beseech 
you, not only for my sake, but for the Lord's sake, and 
for your soul's sake, that you go not one day longer in 
your former condition, but look about you, and cry to 
God for converting grace, that you may be made new 
creatures, and may escape the plagues that are a little 
before you. And if ever you will do any thing for me, 
grant me this request, to turn from your evil ways and 
live. Deny me any thing that ever I shall ask you for 
myself, if you will but grant me this ; and if you deny 
me this, I care not for any thing else that you would 
grant me. Nay, as ever you will do any thing at the 
request of the Lord that made you and redeemed you, 



TIIE UNCONVERTED. 



141 



deny him not this ; for if you deny him this, he cares 
for nothing that you shall grant him. As ever you 
would have him hear your prayers, and grant your re- 
quests, and do for you at the hour of death and day of 
judgment, or in any of your extremities, deny not his 
request now in the day of your prosperity. O, sirs, 
believe it, death and judgment, and heaven and hell, 
are other matters when you come near them, than 
they seem to carnal eyes afar off: then you would 
hear such a message as I bring you with more awak- 
ened regardful hearts. 

Well, though I cannot hope so well of all, I will 
hope that some of you are by this time purposing to 
turn and live ; and that you are ready to ask me, as the 
Jews did Peter, (Acts ii. 37.) when they were pricked 
in their hearts, and said, " Men and brethren, what 
shall we do ?" How might we come to be truly convert- 
ed ? We are willing, if we did but know our duty. 
God forbid that we should choose destruction, by re- 
fusing conversion as hitherto we have done. 

If these be the thoughts and purposes of your hearts, 
I say of you as God did of a promising people, Deut. 
v. 28, 29. " They have well said all that they have 
spoken : O that there was such a heart in them, that 
they would fear me, and keep all my commandments 
always !" Your purposes are good : O that there 
were but a heart in you to perform these purposes ! 
And in hope hereof I shall gladly give you direction 
what to do, and that but briefly, that you may the 
easier remember it for your practice. 

Direction 1. — If you would be converted and saved, 
labour to understand the necessity and true nature of 
conversion : for what, and from what, and to what, 
and by what it is that you must turn. 

Consider in what a lamentable condition you are till 
the hour of your conversion, that you may see it is not 
a state to be rested in. You are under the guilt of all 
the sins that ever you committed, and under the wrath 
of God and the curse of his law : you are bond slaves 
to the devil, and daily employed in his work against 



142 



A. CALL TO 



the Lord, yourselves, and others : you are spiritually 
dead and deformed, as being devoid of the holy life s 
and nature, and image of the Lord. You are unfit 
for any holy work, and do nothing that is truly pleas 
ing to God. You are without any promise or assu- 
rance of his protection, and live in continual danger of 
his justice, not knowing what hour you may be snatch- 
ed away to hell, and most certain to be lost if you die 
an that condition ; and nothing short of conversion can 
prevent it. Whatever civilities or amendments are 
short of true conversion, will never procure the saving 
>of your souls. Keep the true sense of this natural 
misery, and so of the necessity of conversion on your 
.hearts. 

And then you must understand what it is to be con- 
certed ; it is to have a new heart or disposition, and a 
new conversation. 

Quest. I. For what must we turn ? 

Answ. For these ends following, which you may 
attain : I. You shall immediately be made living mem- 
bers of Christ, and have an interest in him, and be re- 
neAved after the image of God, and be adorned with all 
his graces, and quickened with a new and heavenly 
life, and saved from the tyranny of Satan, and the do- 
minion of sin, and be justified by the curse of the law, 
and have the pardon of all the sins of your whole lives, 
and be accepted of God, and made his sons, and have 
liberty with boldness to call him Father, and go to him 
by prayer in all your needs, with a promise of accep- 
tance ; you shall have the Holy Ghost to dwell in you, 
to sanctity and guide you ; you shall have part in 
the brotherhood, communion, and prayers of the 
saints ; you shall be fitted for God's service, and be 
freed from the dominion of sin, and be useful and a 
blessing to the place where you live ; and shall have 
the promise of this life and that which is to come ; you 
shall want nothing that is truly good for you, and your 
necessary afflictions you will be enabled to bear ; you 
may have some taste of communion with God in the 
Spirit, especially in all holy ordinances, where God 
prepareth a feast for your souls ; you shall be heirs of 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



i4r 



heaven while you live on earth, and may foresee by 
faith the everlasting glory, and so may live and die in 
peace ; and you shall never be so low but your happi- 
ness will be incomparably greater than your misery. 

How precious is every one of these blessings, which 
I do but briefly name, and which in this life you may 
receive ! 

And then, 2. At death your souls shall go to Christ, 
and at the day of judgment both soul and body shall 
be glorified and justified, and enter into your Master's 
joy, where your happiness will consist in these par- 
ticulars : 

I. You shall be perfected yourselves; your mortal 
bodies shall be made immortal, and the corruptible 
shall put on incorruption ; you shall no more be hun- 
gry, or thirsty, or weary, or sick, nor shall you need 
to fear either shame, or sorrow, or death, or hell ; your 
souls shall be perfectly freed from sin, and perfectly 
fitted for the knowledge, and love, and praises of the 
Lord. 

% Your employment shall be to behold your glorified" 
Redeemer, with all your holy fellow citizens of heaven,, 
and to see the glory of the most blessed God, and to 
love him perfectly, and be beloved by him, and to 
praise him everlastingly. 

3. Your glory will contribute to the glory of the 
New Jerusalem, the city of the living God ; which is 
more than to have a private felicity to yourselves. 

4. Your glory will contribute to the glorifying of 
your Redeemer, who will everlastingly be magnified 
and pleased in that your are the travail of his soul ; and 
this is more than the glorifying of yourselves. 

5. And the eternal Majesty, the living God, will be 
glorified in your glory, both as he is magnified by your 
praises, and as he communicateth of his glory and 
goodness to you, and as he is pleased in you, and in 
the accomplishment of his glorious work, in the glory 
of the New Jerusalem, and of his Son. 

All this the poorest beggar of you that is converted, 
shall certainly and endlessly enjoy. 

II, You see for what you must turn; next you must 



144 



A CALL TO 



understand from what you must turn ; and this is, in 
a word, from your carnal self, which is the end of all 
the unconverted : — from the flesh that would be pleased 
before God, and would still be enticing you ; — from the 
world, that is the bait ; and from the devil, that is the 
angler for souls, and the deceiver. And so from all 
known and wilful sins. 

III. Next you must know to what end you must 
turn ; and that is, to God as your end ; to Christ as 
the way to the Father ; to holiness as the way ap- 
pointed you by Christ ; and to the use of all the helps 
and means of grace afforded you by the Lord. 

IV. Lastly, You must know by what you must turn ; 
and that is by Christ, as the only Redeemer and In- 
tercessor ; and by the Holy Ghost, as the Sanctifier ; 
and by the word, as his instrument or means ; and by 
faith and repentance, as the means and duties on 
your part to be performed. All this is of necessity. 

Direction II. — If you will be converted and saved, 
be much in serious secret consideration. Inconsider- 
ateness undoes the world. Withdraw yourselves oft 
into retired secrecy, and there bethink you of the end 
why you were made, of the life you have lived, of the 
time you have lost, the sins you have committed ; of 
the love and sufferings, and fulness of Christ ; of the 
danger you are in ; of the nearness of death and 
judgment ; of the certainty and excellency of the joys 
of heaven, and of the certainty and terror of the tor- 
ments of hell, and the eternity of both ; and of the 
necessity of conversion and a holy life. Absorb your 
hearts in such considerations as these. 

Direction III. — If you will be converted and saved, 
attend upon the word of God, which is the ordinary 
means. Read the Scripture, or hear it read, and other 
holy writings that do apply it ; constantly attend on 
the public preaching of the word. As God will light 
the world by the sun, and not by himself without it, so 
will he convert and save men by his ministers, who are 
the lights of the world. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Matt. v. 14. 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



145 



When he had miraculously humbled Paul, he sent him 
to Ananias, Acts ix. 10 ; and when he had sent an 
angel to Cornelius, it was but to bid him send for Peter, 
who must tell him what to believe and do. 

Direction IV. — Betake yourselves to God in a 
course of earnest constant prayer. Confess and la- 
ment your former lives, and beg his grace to illuminate 
and convert you. Beseech him to pardon what is 
past, and to give you his Spirit, and change your 
hearts and lives, and lead you in his ways, and save 
you from temptation. Pursue this work daily, and be 
not weary of it. 

Direction V. — Presently give over your known and 
wilful sins. Make a stand, and go that way no farther. 
Be drunk no more, but avoid the very occasion of it. 
Cast away your lusts and sinful pleasures with detes- 
tation. Curse, and swear, and rail no more ; and if 
you have wronged any, restore, as Zaccheus did ; if 
you will commit a^ain your old sins, what blessing can 
you expect on the means for conversion 'i 

Direction VI. — Presently, if possible, change your 
company, if it hath hitherto been bad ; not by forsak- 
ing your necessary relations, but your unnecessary sin- 
ful companions ; and join yourselves with those that 
fear the Lord, and inquire of them the way to heaven. 
Acts ix. 19, 26. Psalm xv. 4. 

Direction VII. — Deliver up yourselves to the Lord 
Jesus, as the physician of your souls, that he may 
pardon you by his blood, and sanctify you by his 
Spirit, by his word and ministers, the instruments of 
the Spirit. He is the way, the truth, and the life ; there 
is no coming to the Father but by him. John xiv. 6. 
Nor is there any other name under heaven, by which 
you can be saved. Acts iv. 12. Study, therefore, his 
person and natures, and what he hath done for you, 
and what he is to you, amd what he will be, and how he 
is fitted to the full supply of all your necessities. 
13 



146 A CALL TO 



Direction VIII. — If you mean indeed to turn and 
live, do it speedily, without delay, If you be not wil- 
ling to turn to-day, you are not willing to do it at all. 
Remember, you are all this while in your blood, under 
the guilt of many thousand sins, and under God's 
wrath, and you stand at the very brink of hell ; there 
is but a step between you and death : and this is not a 
case for a man that is well in his wits to be quiet in. 
Up therefore presently; and fly as for your lives, as you 
would be gone out of your house if it were all on fire 
over your head. 0, if you did but know in what con- 
tinual danger you live, and what daily unspeakable loss 
you sustain, and what a safer and sweeter life you 
might live, you would not stand trilling, but presently 
turn. Multitudes miscarry that wilfully delay, when 
they are convinced that it must be done. Your lives 
are short and uncertain ; and what a case are you in 
if you die before you thoroughly turn ! Ye have staid 
too long already, and wronged God too long. Sin 
getteth strength while you delay. Your conversion 
will grow more hard and doubtful. You have much 
to do, and therefore put not all off to the last, lest God 
forsake you, and give you up to yourselves, and then 
you are undone for ever. 

Direction IX. — If you will turn and live, do it un- 
reservedly, absolutely, and universally. Think not to 
capitulate with Christ, and divide your heart between 
him and the world ; and to part with some sins, and 
keep the rest; and to let that go which your flesh can 
spare. This is but self-deluding ; you must in heart 
and resolution forsake all that you have, or else you 
cannot be his disciples. Luke xiv. 26, 33. If you will 
not take God and heaven for your portion, and lay all 
below at the feet of Christ, but you must needs also 
have your good things here, and have an earthly por- 
tion, and God and glory are not enough for you, — it is 
vain to dream of salvation on these terms ; for it will 
not be. If you seem never so religious, if yet it be but 
a carnal righteousness, and if the flesh's prosperity, or 
pleasure, or safety, be still excepted in your devotednesa 



THE UNCONVERTED. 



147 



to God, this is as certain a way to death as open pro- 
faneness, though it be more plausible. 

Direction X. — If you will turn and live, do it re- 
solvedly, and stand not still deliberating, as if it were a 
doubtful case. Stand not wavering, as if you were 
uncertain whether God or the flesh be the better mas- 
ter, or whether sin or holiness be the better way, or 
whether heaven or hell be the better end. But away 
with your former lusts, and presently, habitually, fix- 
edly resolve. Be not one day of one mind, and the 
next day of another ; but be at a point with all the 
world, and resolvedly give up yourselves and all you 
have to God. Now, while you are reading, or hearing 
this, resolve ; before you sleep another night, resolve ; 
before you stir from the place, resolve ; before Satan 
have time to take you off, resolve. You never turn 
indeed till you do resolve, and that with a firm un- 
changeable resolution. 



And now I have done my part in this work, that you 
may turn to the call of God, and live. What wilf be- 
come of it I cannot tell. I have cast the seed at God's 
command ; but it is not in my power to give the in- 
crease. I can go no further with my message ; I can- 
not bring it to your heart, nor make it work : I cannot 
do your parts for you to entertain it and consider it ; 
nor can I do God's part, by opening your heart to en- 
tertain it ; nor can I show heaven or hell to your sight, 
nor give you new and tender hearts. If I knew what 
more to do for your conversion, I hope I should do it. 

But O thou that art the gracious Father of spirits, 
thou hast sworn thou delightest not in the death of the 
wicked, but rather that they turn and live ; deny not 
thy blessing to these persuasions and directions, and 
suffer not thine enemies to triumph in thy sight, and 
the great deceiver of souls to prevail against thy Son, 
thy Spirit, and thy Word ! O pity poor unconverted 
sinners, that have no hearts to pity or help themselves 1 
'Command the blind to see, and the deaf to hear, ana 



148 A CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 

the dead to live, and let not sin and death be able to re- 
sist thee. Awaken the secure, resolve the unresolved, 
confirm the wavering ; and let the eyes of sinners, that 
read these lines, be next employed in weeping over 
their sins, and bring them to themselves, and to thy 
Son, before their sins have brought them to perdition. 
If thou say but the word, these poor endeavours shall 
prosper to the winning of many a soul to their ever- 
lasting joy, and thine everlasting glory. — Amen. 



NOW OR NEVER. 



EXTRACTED FROM 



A DISCOURSE OF REV. RICHARD BAXTER. 



ECCLES. IX. 10. 

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor know- 
ledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. 

The mortality of man being the principal subject of 
Solomon in this chapter, and observing that wisdom 
and piety exempt not men from death, he first hence 
infers, that God's love or hatred to one man above 
another, is not to be gathered by his dealings with 
them here, where all things in the common course of 
providence come alike to ail. The common sin hath 
introduced death as a common punishment, which 
levels all, and ends all the contrivances, businesses, and 
enjoyments of this life, to good and bad ; and discri- 
minating justice is not ordinarily manifested here : an 
•epicure or infidel would think Solomon was here plead- 
ing his unmanly impious cause : but it is not the ces- 
sation of the life, or operations, or enjoyments of the 
soul that he is speaking of, as if there were no life to 
come, or the soul of man were not immortal ; but it is 
the cessation of all the actions, and honours, and plea- 
sures of this life, which to good or bad shall be no 
more. Here they have no more reward, the memory 
of them will be here forgotten. " They have no more 
a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the 
sun." 

13* 



150 



NOW OR NEVER. 



From hence he further infers, that the comforts of 
life are but short and transitory, and therefore that 
what the creature can afford, must be presently taken : 
and as the wicked shall have no more but present plea- 
sures, so the faithful may take their lawful comforts in 
the present moderate use of the creatures. For if their 
enjoyment be of right and use to any, it is to them ; and, 
therefore, though they may not use them to their hurt, 
to the pampering of their flesh, and strengthening their 
lusts, and hindering spiritual duties, benefits, and salva- 
tion ; yet must they " serve the Lord with joyfulness, 
and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all 
things" which he giveth them. 

Next he infers, from the brevity of man's life, the 
necessity of speed aud diligence in his duty. And this 
is in the words of my text; where you have, 1. The 
duty commanded. 2. The reason or motive to en- 
force it. 

The duty is in the first part, " Whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do," that is, whatever work is assigned 
thee by God to do in this thy transitory life, " do it 
with thy might;" that is, 1. Speedily, without delay. 
2. Diligently ; and not with slothfulness, or by halves. 

2. The motive is in the latter part, " For there is 
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in 
the grave, whither thou goest ;" that is, it must be now 
or never. The grave, where thy work cannot be done, 
will quickly end thy opportunities. The sense is ob- 
viously contained in these two propositions : — 

Doctrine 1. — " The work of this life cannot be 
done when this life is ended : or, There is no working 
in the grave, to which we are all making haste." 

Doctrine 2. — " Therefore, while we have time, we 
must do our best : or do the work of this present life 
with vigour and diligence." 

1. It is from an unquestionable and commonly ac- 
knowledged truth, that Solomon here urgeth us to 
diligence in duty ; and therefore to prove it would be 
but loss of time. As there are two worlds for man to 
live in, and so two lives for man to live, so each of 
these lives has its peculiar employment. This is the 



IT0W OR NEVER. 



151 



life of preparation: the next is the life of rewards or 
punishments. We are now but in the womb of eter- 
nity, and must live hereafter in the open world. We 
are now but sent to school to learn the work we must 
do for ever : this is the time of our apprenticeship ; we 
are learning the trade that we must live upon in hea- 
ven. We run now, that we may then receive the 
crown ; we fight now, that we may then triumph in 
victory. The grave hath no work ; but heaven hath 
work, and hell hath suffering : there is no repentance 
unto life hereafter ; but there is repentance to torment 
and to desperation. There is no believing of a happi- 
ness unseen in order to the obtaining of it ; or of a 
misery unseen in order to the escaping of it ; nor be- 
lieving in a Saviour in order to these ends. But there 
is the fruition of the happiness which was here be- 
lieved ; and feeling of the misery that men would not 
believe ; and suffering from him as a righteous Judge, 
whom they rejected as a merciful Saviour. So that it 
is not all work that ceaseth at our death ; but only the 
work of this present life. 

And indeed no reason can show us the least proba- 
bility of doing our work when our time is gone, that 
was given us to do it in. If it can be done, it must be, 
1. By the recalling of our time. 2. By the return of 
life. 3. Or, by opportunity in another life. But there 
is no hope of any of these. 

1. Who knoweth not that time cannot be recalled? 
That which once was, will be no more. Yesterday 
will never come again. To-day is passing, and will 
not return. You may work while it is day ; but when 
you have lost that day, it will not return for you to 
work in. While your candle burneth, you may make 
use of its light ; but when it is done, it is too late to use 
it. No force of medicine, no orator's elegant persua- 
sions, no worldling's wealth, no prince's power, can 
call back one day or hour of time. If they could , what 
endeavours would there be used, when extremity hath 
taught them to value what they now despise ! What 
bargaining would there be at last, if time could be pur- 
chased for any thing that man can give. Then misers 



152 



NOW OR NEVER. 



would bring out their wealth, and say, c All this will I 
give for one day's time of repentance more. 5 And 
lords and knights would lay down their honours, and 
.say, c Take all, and let us be beggars, if we may have 
but one year of the time that we mispent. 5 Then kings 
would lay down their crowns, and say, £ Let us be 
equal with the lowest subjects, so we may but have 
the time again that we wasted in the cares and plea- 
sures of the world. 5 Kingdoms would then seem a 
contemptible price for the recovery of time. 

The time that is now idled and talked away ; the 
•time that is now feasted and complimented away, that 
is unnecessarily sported and slept away ; that is wick- 
edly and presumptuously sinned away ; how precious 
will it one day seem to all ! How happy a bargain 
w 7 ould they think they had made, if at the dearest rates 
they could redeem it ? 

The profanest mariner falls a praying, when he fears 
his time is at an end. If importunity would then pre- 
vail, how eanestly would they pray for the recovery of 
time that formerly derided praying ! What a liturgy 
would death teach the trifling time-despising gallants, 
the idle, busy, dreaming, active, ambitious, covetous 
lovers of this world, if time could be entreated to re- 
turn ! How passionately then would they pour out their 
requests ! c 0 that we might once see the days of hope, 
and means, and mercy, which once we saw, and would 
not see ! 0 that we had those days to spend in peni- 
tential tears, and prayers, and holy preparations for 
an endless life, which we spent at cards, in needless 
recreations, in idle talk, in humouring others, in the pleas- 
ing of our flesh, or in the inordinate cares and busi- 
nesses of the world ! O that our youthful vigour might 
return! that our years might be renewed! that the 
days we spent in vanity might be recalled ! that minis- 
ters might again be sent to us publicly and privately, 
with the message of grace which we once made light 
of! that the sun would once more shine upon us ! and 
that patience and mercy would once more reassume 
their work !' 

If cries or tears, or price or pains, would bring back 



NOW OR NEVER. 



15S 



lost abused time, how happy were the now distracted, 
dreaming, dead-hearted, and impenitent world ! If it 
would then serve their turn to say to the vigilant be- 
lievers, " Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone 
out or to cry, " Lord, Lord, open to us," when the 
door is shut, the foolish would be saved as well as the 
wise. But " this is the day of salvation ! this is the 
accepted time. 35 While it is called to-day, hearken, 
and harden not your hearts. Awake, thou that sleep- 
est, and use the light that is afforded thee by Christ ; 
or else the everlasting utter darkness will shortly end 
thy time and hope. 

2. And as time can never be recalled, so life shall 
never be here restored : " If a man die, shall he live 
(here) again ?" All the days of our appointed time we 
must therefore wait, in faith and diligence, till our 
change shall come. One life is appointed us on earth, 
to despatch the work on which our everlasting life de- 
pendeth, and we shall have but one. Lose that, and 
all is lost for ever : yet you may hear, and read, and 
learn, and pray ; but when this life is ended, it shall 
be so no more. You shall rise from the dead indeed 
to judgment, and to the life that you are now prepar- 
ing for ; but never to such a life as this on earth : your 
life is as the fighting of a battle, that must be won or 
lost at once. There is no coming hither again to mend 
what is done amiss. Oversights must be presently cor- 
rected by repentance, or else they are everlastingly 
past remedy. Now, if you be not truly converted, you 
may be ; if you find that you are carnal and mi- 
serable, you may be healed ; if you are unpardoned, 
you may be pardoned; if you are enemies you may 
be reconciled to God : but when once the thread of 
life is cut, your opportunities are at an end. Now you 
may inquire of your friends and teachers what you 
must do to be saved ; and you may receive particular 
instructions and exhortations, and God may bless 
them, to the illuminating, renewing, and saving of 
your souls. But when life is past, it will be so no more, 
O then, if departed souls might but return, and once 
more be tried with the means of life, what joyful tid- 



U4 



NOW OR NEVER. 



ings would it be ! How welcome would the messen- 
ger be that bringeth it ! Had hell but such an offer as 
this, and would any cries procure it from their righte- 
ous Judge, 0 what a change would be among them ! 
How importunately would they cry to God, ' 0 send 
us once again to the earth ! Once more let us see the 
face of mercy, and hear the tenders of Christ and of 
salvation ! Once more let the ministers offer us their 
helps, and teach in season and out of season, in public 
and in private, and we will refuse their help and ex- 
hortations no more ! we will hate them, and drive them 
away from our houses and towns no more. Once more 
let us have thy word, and ordinances, and try whether 
we will not believe them, and use them better than 
we did. Once more let us have the help and company 
of thy saints, and we will scorn them, and abuse them, 
and persecute them no more. 0 for the great invalua- 
ble mercy of such a life as once we had ! O try us once 
more with such a life, and see whether we will not 
< contemn the world, and close with Christ, and live as 
strictly, and pray as earnestly, as those that we hated 
and abused for so doing ! O that we might once more 
be admitted into the holy assemblies, and have the 
Lord's days to spend in the business of our salvation! 
We would plead no more against the power and purity 
of the ordinances ; we would no more call that day a 
burden, nor hate them that spent it in works of holi- 
ness, nor plead for the liberty of the flesh therein. 5 

He that would have Lazarus sent from the dead to 
warn his unbelieving brethren on earth, no doubt 
would have strongly purposed himself on a reforma- 
tion, if he might once more have been tried ; and how 
earnestly would he have begged for such a trial, that 
begged so hard for a drop of water? But, alas ! such 
mouths must be stopped for ever with — " Remember 
that thou, in thy lifetime, received thy good things." 

So that " it is appointed for men once to die, and 
after that the judgment.' 5 But there is no return to 
earth again : the places of your abode, employment, 
and denght, shall know you no more. You must see 
these faces of your friends, and converse in flesh with 



NOW OR NEVER. 



15S 



men no more. This world, those houses, that wealth 
and honour, as to any fruition, must be to you as if you 
had never known them. 

You must assemble here but a little while. Yet a 
little longer, and we must preach, and you must hear 
it no more for ever. That therefore which you will 
do, must presently be done, or it will be too late. If 
ever you will repent and believe, it must be now. If 
ever you will be converted and sanctified, it must be 
now. If ever you will be pardoned and reconciled to 
God, it must be now. If ever you will reign, it is now 
that you must fight and conquer. " 0 that you were 
wise, that you understood this, and that you would 
consider your latter end 1" And that you would let 
those words sink down into your hearts, which came 
from the heart of the Redeemer, as was witnessed by 
his tears : " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in 
this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! 
but now they are hid from thine eyes." And that 
these warnings may not be the less regarded, because 
you have so often heard thern ; when often hearing in- 
creaseth your obligation, and diminisheth not the truth 3 
or your danger. 

3. And as there is no return to earth, so is there no 
doing this work hereafter. Heaven and hell are for 
other work. The harvest doth presuppose the seed- 
time, and the labour of the husbandman. It is now 
that you must sow, and hereafter that you must reap. 
It is now that you must work, and then that you must 
receive your wages. 

Is this believed and considered by the sleepy world ? 
Alas ! sirs, do you live as men that must live here no 
more ? Do you work as men that must work no more, 
and pray as men that must pray no more, when once 
the time of work is ended ? What thinkest thou ! will 
God command the sun to stand still while thou rebel- 
lest or forge ttest thy work and him ! Dost thou ex- 
pect he should pervert the course of nature, and 
continue the spring and seedtime till thou hast a 
mind to sow? Will he renew thy age, and make 
thee young again, and call back the hours that thou 



156 



NOW OR NEVER. 



hast prodigally wasted on thy lusts and idleness ? Canst 
thou look for this at the hand of God, when nature and 
Scripture assure thee of the contrary? If not, why 
hast thou not yet done with thy "beloved sins ? Why 
hast thou not yet begun to live ? Why sittest thou 
still while thy soul is unrenewed, and all thy prepara- 
tion for death and judgment is yet to make ? How 
fain would Satan find thee thus at death? How fain 
would he have leave to blow out thy candle, before 
thou hast entered into the way of life ? Dost thou 
look to have preachers sent after thee, to bring thee the 
mercy w T hich thy contempt here left behind ? Wilt thou 
hear and be converted in the grave and hell? or wilt 
thou be saved without holiness ? that is, in despite of 
God that hath resolved it shall not be. 0 ye sons of 
sleep, of death, of darkness, a wake, and live, and hear the 
Lord, before the grave and hell have shut their mouths 
upon you ! Hear now, lest hearing be too late ! Hear 
now, if you will ever hear. Hear now, if you have 
ears to hear ! And, O ye sons of light, that see what 
sleeping sinners see not, call to them, and ring them 
such a peal of lamentations, tears, and compassionate 
entreaties, as is suited to such a dead and doleful state ; 
who knows but God may bless it to awake them ? 

II. If any of you be so far awakened as to ask me 
what I am calling you to do, my text tells you in gene- 
ral, Up and be doing; look about you, and see what 
you have to do, and do it with your might. 

1. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," that is, 
whatsoever is a duty imposed by the Lord, whatsoever 
is a means conducing to thy own or others' welfare ; 
whatsoever necessity calleth thee to do, and opportu- 
nity alio we th thee to do. 

" Thy hand findeth ;" that is, thy executive powers 
by the conduct of thy understanding, is now to do. 

" Do it with thy might." Do thy best in it. 

1. Trifle not, but do it presently, without unneces- 
sary delay. 

2. Doit resolutely ; remain not doubtful, unresolved, 
in suspense, as if it were yet a question with thee whe- 
ther thou shouldst do it, or not. 



NOW OR NEVER. 



157 



3. Do it with thy most awakened affections, and 
iserious intention of the powers of thy soul. Sleepiness 
and insensibility are most unsuitable to such works. 

4. Do it with all necessary forecast and contrivance ; 
not with a distracting hindering care ; but with such 
a care as may show that you despise not your Master, 
and are not regardless of his work : and with such a 
care as is suited to the difficulties and nature of the 
thing, and is necessary to the due accomplishment of it. 

5. Do it not slothfully, but vigorously and with dili- 
gence. " Hide not thy hand in thy bosom with the 
slothful," and say not, " There is a lion in the way. 53 
The negligent and the vicious, the waster and the 
slothful, differ but as one brother from another. As 
the self-murder of the wilful ungodly, so also the de- 
sire of the slothful killeth him, because his hands refuse 
to labour. " The soul of the sluggard desireth and 
hath nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be 
made fat." " Be not slothful in business, but be fer- 
vent in spirit, serving the Lord." 

6. Do it with constancy, and not with destructive 
pauses and intermissions, or with weariness and turn- 
ing back. " The righteous shall hold on his way, and 
he that is of clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." 
" Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the 
work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your 
labour is not in vain in the Lord." " Be not weary in 
well-doing : for in due season we shall reap if we faint 
not." 

But, that misunderstanding hinder not the perform- 
ance, I shall acquaint you further with the sense, by 
these few explicatory cautions. 

1. The might and diligence here required, exclude 
not the necessity of deliberation and prudent conduct. 
Otherwise, the faster you go, the further you may go 
out of the way ; and misguided zeal may spoil all the 
work, and make it but an injury to others or your- 
selves. A little imprudence in the season, and order, 
and manner of a duty, sometimes may spoil it, and 
hinder the success, and make it do more hurt than 
good. How many a sermon, or prayer, or reproof, is 
14 



158 



JS'OW OR NEVER. 



made the matter of derision and contempt, for some 
imprudent passages or deportment ! God sendeth not 
his servants to be jesters of the world, or to piay the 
madman as David in his fears; we must be wise 
and innocent, as well as resolute and valiant : though 
fleshly and worldly wisdom be not desirable, as be- 
ing but foolishness with God ; yet the wisdom which 
is from above, and is first pure and then peaceable^ 
and is acquainted with the high and hidden mysteries, 
and is justified of her children, must be the guide of all 
our holy actions. Holiness is not blind: illumination 
is the first part of sanctification. Believers are chil- 
dren of the light. Nothing requireth so much wisdom 
as the matters of God, and of our salvation. Folly is 
most unsuitable to such excellent employments, and 
most unbeseeming the Sons of the Most High. It is 
a spirit of wisdom that animateth all the saints* 
" Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are per- 
fect ; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the 
princes of this world, that come to nought : but we 
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden 
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto 
our glory." It is the treasures of wisdom that dsvell 
in Christ, and are communicated to his members. We 
must " walk in wisdom toward them that are without. 55 
And our works must be " shown out of a good conver- 
sation, with meekness of wisdom." 

2. Though you must work with your might, yet 
with a diversity agreeable to the quality of your seve- 
ral works. Some works must be preferred before 
others : all cannot be done at once. That is a sin out 
of season, which in season is a duty. The greatest, 
and the most urgent work must be preferred. And 
some works must be done with double fervour and re- 
solution, and some with less. Buying and selling, and 
possessing, and using the world, must be done with a 
fear of overdoing, and in a manner as if we did them 
not, though they also must have a necessary diligence- 
God's " kingdom and its righteousness must be first 
sought." And our labour for the meat that perisheth^ 
must be comparatively as none : " Labour not for the* 



NO W OR NEVER. 



159 



meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endur- 
eth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall 
give unto you ; for him hath God the Father sealed." 

3. Lastly, it is not an irregular, nor a self-disturbing 
vexatious violence that is required of us ; but a sweet 
well-settled resolution, and a delightful expeditious dili- 
gence, that make the wheels more easily get over those 
difficulties that clog and stop a slothful soul. 

And now will you lend me the assistance of your 
consciences, for the transcribing of this command of 
God upon your hearts, and taking out a copy of this 
order, for the regulating of your lives? Whatsoever 
is not a word so comprehensive as to include any 
vanity or sin ; but so comprehensive as to include all 
our duty. 

1. To begin with the lowest: the very works of 
your bodily callings must have diligence. " In the 
sweat of your brows you must eat your bread." "Six 
days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do." 
" He that will not work, let him not eat." Disorderly 
walkers, busybodies, that will not work with quietness, 
and eat their own bread, are to be avoided and shamed 
by the church. " For we hear that there are some 
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, 
but are busybodies. Now them that are such we com- 
mand and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with 
quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Lazy 
servants are unfaithful to men and disobedient to God, 
who commandeth them to " obey their masters accord- 
ing to the flesh, (unbelieving, ungodly masters,) in all 
things, (that concern their service,) and that not with 
eye-service, asmen-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, 
and in the fear of God, do whatsoever they do as to the 
Lord, and not unto men ; knowing that of the Lord 
(even for this) they shall receive the reward of the in- 
heritance." " But he that doth wrong, (by slothful- 
ness, or unfaithfulness,) shall receive for the wrong 
which he hath done." 

Success is God's ordinary temporal reward of dili- 

fence : " The hand of the diligent shall bear rule : 
ut the slothful shall be under tribute. The slothful 



160 



NOW OR NEVER. 



man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: "but 
the substance of a diligent man is precious." And 
diseases, poverty, shame, disappointment, or self-tor- 
menting melancholy, are his usual punishments o* 
sloth. Hard labour redeemeth time ; you will have the 
more to lay out on greater works : the slothful is still 
behindhand, and therefore must leave much of his 
work undone. 

2. Are you parents or governors of families ? You 
have work to do for God, and for your children and 
servants 5 souls. Do it with your might : deal wisely, 
but seriously and frequently with them about their 
sin, their duty, and their hopes of heaven ; tell them 
whither they are going, and which way they must go. 
Make them understand that they have a higher Father 
and Master that must be first served, and greater work 
than yours. Waken them from their natural insensi- 
bility and sloth : turn not all your family duties into 
lifeless customary forms ; whether extemporary, or by 
rote ; speak about God, and heaven, and hell, and holi- 
ness, with that seriousness which beseems men that be- 
lieve what they say, and would have those believe it 
to whom they speak. Talk not either drowsily, or 
lightly, or jestingly of such dreadful, or joyful, inex- 
pressible things. Remember, that your families and 
you are going to the grave, and to the world where 
there is no more room for your exhortations. There 
is no catechising, examining, or serious instructing 
them in the grave, whither they and you are going. — 
It must be now or never : and therefore do it with your 
might. " The words of God must be in your hearts,, 
and you must diligently teach them to your children, 
talking of them when you sit in your houses, when 
you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when 
you rise up." 

3. Have you ignorant or ungodly neighbours, whose 
misery calls for your compassion and relief? Speak to 
them, and help them with prudent diligence. Lose 
not your opportunities : stay not till death hath stop- 
ped your mouths, or stopped their ears. Stay not till 
they are out of hearing, or till heaven be lost, before 



NOW OR NEVER. 



161 



you have seriously called on them to remember it. Go 
to their houses ; take all opportunities : stoop to their 
infirmities: hear with unthankful frowardness; it is 
for men's salvation. Remember there is no place for 
your instructions or exhortations in the grave or hell. 
Your dust cannot speak, and their dust cannot hear. 
Up, therefore, and he doing with" all your might. 

4. Hath God intrusted you with the riches of the 
world ; with many talents or with few, by which he 
looketh you should relieve the needy, and especially 
should promote those works of piety which are the 
greatest charity ? Give prudently, but willingly and 
liberally, while you have to give. It is your gain : the 
time of laying up a treasure in heaven, and furthering 
your salvation by that which hindereth other men's, 
and occasioneth their perdition. " As you have oppor- 
tunity, do good to all men, but especially to them of 
the household of faith." C£ Cast thy bread upon the 
waters ; for thou shalt find it after many days. Give 
a portion to seven and to eight ; for thou knowest not 
what evil may be upon the earth." " In the morning 
sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy 
hand : for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, this 
er that, or whether they both shall be alike good. 55 
"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when 
it is in the power of thy hand to do it. Say not to thy 
neighbour, go and come again, and to-morrow I wili 
give, when thou hast it by thee." Lay up a founda- 
tion for the time to come. Do good before thy heart 
"be hardened, thy riches blasted and consumed, thy op- 
portunities taken away ; part with it before it part with 
thee. Remember it must be now or never. There is no 
working in the grave. 

5. Hath God intrusted you with power or interest, 
by which you may promote his honour in the world, 
and relieve the oppressed, and restrain the rage of im- 
pious malice ? Hath he made you governors, and put 
the sword of justice into your hands? Up then and be 
doing with your might. Defend the innocent, protect 
the servants of the Lord, cherish them that do well, be 
a terror to the wicked, encourage the strictest obedi- 

14 * 



162 



NOW OR NEVER. 



ence to the universal Governor, discountenance the- 
breakers of his laws. Your trust is great, and so is 
your advantage to do good ; and how great will be 
your account, and how dreadful, if you be unfaithful ! 

6. To come yet a little nearer to you, and speak of 
the work that is yet to be done in your own souls ; are 
any of you yet in the state of unrenewed nature, born 
only of the flesh, and not of the Spirit? "Minding 
the things of the flesh, and not the things of the Spirit/' 
and consequently yet in the power of Satan, taken 
captive by him at his will ? Up and be doing, if thou 
lovest thy soul. If thou carest whether thou shalt be 
in joy or misery for ever, bewail thy sin and spiritual 
distress. Go to Christ, cry mightily to him for his 
renewing, reconciling, and pardoning grace. Plead 
his satisfaction, his merits, and his promises ; away 
with thy rebellion, and thy beloved sin ; deliver up thy 
soul entirely to Christ, to be sanctified, governed and 
saved by him. Make no more demur ; it is not a 
matter to be questioned, or trifled in. Let the earth 
be acquainted with thy bended knees, and the air with 
thy complaints and cries, and men with thy confessions 
and inquiries after the way of life ; and heaven with 
thy sorrows, desires, and resolutions, till thy soul be 
acquainted with the Spirit of Christ, and with the new, 
the holy and heavenly nature, and thy heart have 
received the transcript of God's law, the impress of 
the Gospel, and so the image of thy Creator and Re- 
deemer. For there is no conversion, renovation, or 
repentance unto life, in the grave whither thou goest. 
It must be now or never. And never saved if never 
sanctified : " Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord." 

7. Hast thou any prevailing sin to mortify, that 
either reigneth in thee, or woundeth thee and keepeth 
thy soul in darkness and unacquaintedness with God? 
Assault it resolutely; reject it speedily; abhor the 
motions of it, turn away from the persons or things 
that would entice thee. Hate the doors of the harlot 
and of the ale-house, or the gaming-house ; and go 
not as the " ox to the slaughter, and as a bird to the 



NOW OR NEVER. 



16S 



fowler's snare, and as a fool to the correction of the 
stocks, as if thou knewest not that it is for thy life." 
Why wilt thou be tasting of the poisoned cup ? Wilt 
thou be sporting with the bait ? Hast thou no where 
to walk or play, but at the brink of ruin ? Must not 
the flesh be crucified, with its " affections and lusts ?" 
Must it not be tamed and mortified, or thy soul con- 
demned ? " For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : 
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of 
the body, ye shall live." Run not therefore as at 
uncertainty ; fight not as one " that beats the air.'* 
Seeing this must be done, or thou art undone, delay 
and dally with sin no longer. Let this be the day ; 
resolve, and resist it with thy might : it must be now 
or never : when death comes it is too late. 

8. Art thou in a declined, fallen state ? Decayed in 
grace ? Hast thou lost thy first desires and love ? Do 
thy first works, and do them with thy might. Delay 
not, but remember from whence thou art fallen. Cry 
out with Job, " O that I were as in months past ; as in 
the days when God preserved me ! when his candle 
shined upon my head, and when, by his light, I walked 
through darkness. As I was in the days of my youth, 
when the secret of God was on my tabernacle, when 
the Almighty was yet with me." Return while thou 
hast day, lest the night surprise thee. 

9. Art thou in the darkness of uncertainty concern- 
ing thy conversion, and thy everlasting state ? Dost 
thou not know whether thou art in a state of life or 
death ? And what should become of thee, if this were 
the day or hour of thy change ? If thou art careless 
in thy uncertainty, and mindest not so great a business, 
be awakened, and call thy soul to its account ; search 
and examine thy heart and life ; read and consider, 
and take advice of faithful guides. Canst thou care- 
lessly sleep, and laugh, and sport, and follow thy busi- 
ness, as if thy salvation were made sure, when thou 
knowest not where thou must dwell for ever? " Exa- 
mine yourselves whether you be in the faith ; prove 
yourselves ; know ye not your own selves, that Christ 
is in you, except ye be reprobates?" Give all dili* 



164 



NOW OR NEVER. 



gence to make your calling and election sure." In the 
grave and hell there is no making sure of heaven ; 
you are then past inquiries and self-examination, in 
order to any recovery or hope. Another kind of trial 
will finally resolve you. It must be now or never. 

10. In all the duties of thy profession of piety, jus- 
tice, or charity to God, thyself, or others, up and be 
doing with thy might. Art thou seeking to inflame 
thy soul with love to God ? Plunge thyself in the ocean 
of his love ; admire his mercies ; gaze upon the repre- 
sentations of his transcendant goodness ; " 0 taste and 
see that the Lord is gracious !" Remember that he 
must be loved with all thy heart, and soul, and might ; 
canst thou pour out thy love upon a creature, and give 
but a few barren drops to God? 

When thou art fearing, let his fear command thy 
soul, and conquer all the fear of man. When thou art 
trusting him, do it without distrust, and cast all thy 
care and thyself upon him : trust him as a creature 
should trust his God, and the members of Christ should 
trust their head and dear Redeemer. When thou art 
making mention of his great and dreadful name, 0 do 
it with reverence, and awe, and admiration : and " take 
not the name of God in vain !" When thou art read- 
ing his word, let the majesty of the Author, and the 
greatness of the matter, and the gravity of the style, 
possess thee with an obedient fear. Love it, and let 
it be sweeter to thee than the hone}^-comb, and more 
precious than thousands of gold and silver. Resolve 
to do what there thou findest to be the will of God. 
When thou art praying in secret, or in thy family, 
" do it with thy might :" cry mightily to God, as a 
soul under sin, wants, and danger, that is stepping into 
an endless life, should do. Let the reverence and the 
fervour of thy prayers, show that it is God himself 
that thou art speaking to : that it is heaven itself that 
thou art praying for ; hell itself that thou art praying 
to be saved from. Wilt thou be dull and senseless on 
such an errand to the living God ? Remember what 
lieth upon thy failing or prevailing : and that it must 
be now or never. 



NOW OR NEVER. 



165 



Art thou a preacher of the gospel, and takest charge 
of the souls of men ? " Take heed to thyself and to 
the whole flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made 
thee an overseer, to feed the church of God, which he 
hath purchased with his own blood." Let not the 
blood of souls, and the blood that purchased them,. 
" be required at thy hands.' 5 Thou art charged " be- 
fore God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge 
the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his king- 
dom, that thou preach his word : be instant in season, 
and out of season ; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with 
all long-suffering and doctrine." " Teach every man, 
and exhort every man, — even night and day with tears." 
" Save men with fear, pulling them out of the fire. 
Cry aloud : lift up thy voice like a trumpet ; tell them 
of their transgressions." Yet thou art alive, and they 
alive ; yet thou hast a tongue, and they have ears : 
the final sentence hath not yet cut off their hopes- 
Preach, therefore, and preach with all thy might. 
Exhort them, privately and personally, with all the 
seriousness thou canst. Quickly, or it will be too late ; 
prudently, or Satan will overreach thee ; fervently, or 
thy words are likely to be disregarded. Remember, 
when thou lookest them in the faces, when thou be- 
holdest the assemblies, that they must be converted or 
condemned, sanctified on earth, or tormented in hell 
and that this is the day : it must be now or never. 

In a word, apply this quickening precept to all the 
duties of the Christian course. Be religious, and 
just, and charitable, in good earnest, if you would 
be taken for such when you look for the reward. 
" Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." 
" Strive to enter in at the strait gait ; for many shall 
seek to enter, and shall not be able." Many run, but 
few receive the prize ; so run that you may obtain. 
" If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the 
ungodly and sinner appear?" Let the doting world 
deride your diligence, and set themselves to hinder and 
afflict you : it will be but a little while before experi- 
ence change their minds, and make them talk differ- 
ently. Follow Christ fully : be diligent, and lose no 



» 



166 



NOW OR NEVER. 



time. The Judge is corning. Let not words, nor any 
thing that man can do, prevail with you to sit down, 
or stop you in a journey of such importance. Please 
God, though flesh, and friends, and all the world 
should be displeased. Whatever come of your repu- 
tation, or estates, or liberties, or lives, be sure you look 
to life eternal ; and cast not that, on any hazard, for a 
withering flower, or a pleasant dream, or a picture ot 
commodity, or any vanity that the Deceiver can pre- 
sent. " For what shall it profit you, to win the world, 
and lose your soul ?" Obey God, though all the world 
forbid you. No power can save you from his justice ; 
and none of them can deprive you of his reward. 
Though you lose your heads, you shall save your 
crowns ; you no way save your lives so certainly, 
as by such losing them. One thing is necessary : 
do that with speed, and care, and diligence, which 
must be done, or you are lost for ever. They that 
are now against your much and earnest praying, 
will shortly cry as loud themselves in vain. When 
it is too late, how fervently will they beg for 
mercy, that now deride you for valuing and seeking 
it in time ! But " then they shall call upon God, but he 
will not answer ; they shall seek him early, but shall 
not find him : for that they hated knowledge, and did 
not choose the fear of the Lord : they would none of 
his counsel, but despised all his reproof." Up, there- 
fore, and work with all thy might. Let unbelievers 
trifle, that know not that the righteous God stands 
over them, and know not that they are now to work 
for everlasting, and know not that heaven or hell is at 
the end. Let them delay, and laugh, and play, and 
dream away their time, that are drunk with pros- 
perity, and mad with fleshly lusts and pleasures, and 
have lost their reason in the cares, and delusions, and 
vain-glory of the world. But shall it be so with thee, 
whose eyes are opened, w^ho seest the God, the hea- 
ven, the bell, which they do but hear of as unlikely 
things ? Wilt thou live awake, as they that are asleep ? 
Wilt thou do in the day-light, as they do in the dark? 
Shall freemen live as Satan's slaves ? Shall the Jiving lie 



NOW OR NEVER. 



167 



as still and useless as the dead ? " Work then while 
it is day ; for the night is coming, when none can work. 33 
But you will say, perhaps, £ Alas ! what might have 
we ? We have no sufficiency of ourselves : without 
Christ we can do nothing. And this we find when it 
comes to the trial.' 

1. I answer, It is not might that is originally thine 
own, that I am calling thee to exercise ; hut that which 
thou hast already received from God, and that which 
he is ready to bestow. Use well but all the might thou 
hast, and thou shalt find thy labour is not in vain. 

2. Art thou willing to use the might thou hast, and 
to have more, and use it if thou hadst it? If thou art 3 
thou hast then the strength of Christ: thou standest not, 
and workest not, by thy own strength ; his promise is 
engaged to thee, and his strength is sufficient for thee. 
But if thou art not willing, thou art without excuse : 
when thou hast heaven and hell set open in the word 
of God to make thee willing, God will distinguish thy 
wilfulness from unwilling weakness. 

3. There is more power in all of you than you use, 
or than you are well aware of. It wanteth but awak- 
ening to bring it into act. Do you not find, in your 
repentings, that the change is more in your will, than 
in your power? And in the awakening of your will and 
reason into act, than in the addition of mere abilities ? 
And that therefore you befool yourselves for your sins 
and your neglects, and wonder that you had no more 
use of your understandings ? Let but a storm at sea, 
or violent sickness or approaching death, rouse up and 
awaken the powers which you have, and you will find 
there was much more asleep in you than you used. 

I shall, therefore, next endeavour to awaken your 
abilities, or tell you how you should awaken them. 

When your souls are drowsy, and you are forget- 
ting your God, and your latter end, and matters of 
eternity have little force and favour with you, when 
you grow lazy and superficial, and religion seems a 
lifeless thing, and you do your duty as if it were ir* 
vain, or against your wills; when you can lose your 
time, and delay repentance j and friends, and profit^ 



168 



NOW OR NEVER. 



and reputation, and pleasure, can be heard against 
the word of God, and take you off ; when you do all 
by halves, and languish in your Christian course, as 
near to death — stir up your souls with the urgency of 
such questions as these : — 

Question 1. Can I do no more than this for God, who 
gave me all, who deserveth all ? Who seeth me in my 
duties and my sins ? When he puts me purposely on 
the trial, what can I do for his sake and service ? Can 
I do no more ? Can I love him no more, and obey, and 
watch, and work no more? 

Question 2. Can I do no more than this for Christ? 
For him that did so much for me ? That obeyed so 
perfectly ; walked so meekly ; despising all the baits, 
and honours, and riches of the world ? That loved me 
to the death; and offereth me freely all his benefits, and 
would bring me to eternal glory ? Are these careless, 
cold, and dull endeavours, my best return for all his 
mercy ? 

Question 3. Can I do no more, when my salvation is 
the prize? when heaven or hell depends upon it? 
When I know this beforehand, and may see, in the 
glass of the Holy Scriptures, what is prepared for the 
diligent and the negligent, and what work there is, and 
will be for ever, in heaven and hell, on these accounts? 
Could I not do more, if my house were on fire, or my 
estate, or life, or friend, in danger, than I do for my 
salvation ? 

Question 4. Can I do no more for the souls of men ; 
when they are undone for ever if they be not speedily 
delivered? Is this my love and compassion to my 
neighbour, my servant, friend, or child ? 

Question 5. Can I do no more for the church of 
God? for the public good? for the peace and welfare 
of the nation, and our posterity ? in suppressing sin ? 
in praying for deliverance ? or in promoting works of 
public benefit ? 

Question 6. Can I do no more, that have loitered so 
long ? and go no faster, that have slept till the evening 
of my days, when diligence must be the discovery of 
my repentance ? 



NOW OR NEVER. 



169 



Question 7. Can I do no more, that know not now 
but I am doing my last? that see how fast my time 
makes haste, and know I must be quickly gone ? that 
know it must be now or never. 

Question 8. Can I do no better, when I know be- 
forehand what a vexatious and heart-disquieting thing 
it will then be, to look back on time as irrecoverably 
lost, and on a life of trial as cast away upon imper- 
tinences, while the work that we lived for lay undone ! 
Shall I now, by trifling, prepare such tormenting 
thoughts for my awakened conscience ? 

Question 9. Can I do no more, when I am sure I 
cannot do too much, and am sure there is nothing else 
to be preferred ? 

Question 10. Can I do no more, that have so much 
help ? that have mercies of all sorts encouraging me, 
and creatures attending me ; that have health to en- 
able me, or affliction to remember and excite me ; that 
have such a master, such a work, such a reward ? who 
is less excusable for neglect than I ? 

Question 11. Could I do no more, if I were sure 
that my salvation lay on this one duty ? that, according 
to this prayer, it should go with me for ever ? or if 
the soul of my child, or servant, or neighbour, must 
speed for ever, as my endeavours speed with them 
now for their conversion? For aught I know it may 
be thus. 

By this time you may see what difference there is 
"between the judgment of God and of the world ; and 
what to think of the understandings of those men, be 
they high or low, learned or unlearned, who hate or 
oppose this holy diligence. God bids us love, and seek, 
and serve him, with all our heart, and soul, and might : 
and these men call them Zealots and Puritans that en- 
deavour it ; though, alas ! they fall exceedingly short, 
when they have done their best. It is one of the most 
wonderful, monstrous deformities that ever befell the 
nature of man ; that men, learned men — that men who 
in other things are wise, should seriously think that 
the utmost diligence to obey the Lord, and save our 
souls, is needless ; and that ever they should take it for 
15 



170 



NOW OR NEVER. 



a crime, and make it a matter of reproach : that the 
serious, diligent obeying of God's laws, should he the 
matter of the common disdain and hatred of the world. 
It is not in vain that the Holy Ghost saith, " Marvel 
not, my brethren, if the world hate you implying, 
that we are apt to marvel at it ; as I confess I have oft 
and greatly done. Methinks, it is so wonderful a 
plague and stain in nature, that it doth very much to 
confirm me of the truth of Scripture ; of the doctrine 
of man's fall and original sin, and the necessity of a 
Reconciler, and of renewing grace. 

Look upwards, sirs, and think whether heaven he 
worth our labour. Look downwards, and think whe- 
ther earth be more worthy of it. Lay up your trea- 
sures where you must dwell for ever. If that be here, 
then scrape, and flatter, and get all that you can : but 
if it be not here, but in another life, then hearken to 
your Lord, and lay up for yourselves a treasure in 
heaven, and there let your very hearts be set. And, 
upon the peril of everlasting misery, hearken not to any 
man that will tempt you from a diligent holy life. It 
is a serious business ; deal seriously in it, and be not 
laughed or mocked out of heaven. 

All the commands, and promises, and threatenmgs- 
of God, the most powerful preaching, that, as it were, 
sets open heaven and hell, do not prevail with fleshly 
men, to leave the most sordid and unmanly sin : and 
shall the words or frowns of creeping dust prevail with 
thee against the work for which thou livest in the 
world, when thou hast still at hand unanswerable ar- 
guments from God, from thyself, from heaven and hell, 
to put thee on ? Were it but for thy life, or the life of 
thy children, friend, yea, or enemy, or for the quench- 
ing of a fire in thy house, or in the town, wouldst thou 
not stir and do thy best ? And wilt thou be idle when 
eternal life lies on it ? Let Satan roar against thee by 
his instruments. Let sinners talk awhile of they know 
not what, till God hath made them change their note. 
These are not matters for a man to observe, that is 
engaged for an endless life. O what are these to the 
things that thou art called to prosecute ? Hold on, then. 



NOW OR NEVER. 



171 



Christians, in the work that you have begun. Do it 
prudently, and do it universally. Take it together, 
works of piety, justice, and charity : but do it now 
without delay, and do it seriously with your might. 
I know not what cloud of darkness hath seized on those 
men's minds that speak against this, or what deadly 
damp hath seized on their hearts, that hath so benumb- 
ed and unmanned them. 

For my own part, though I have long lived in a 
sense of the preciousness of time, and have not been 
wholly idle in the world ; yet, when I have the deep- 
est thoughts of the great everlasting consequence of my 
work, and of the uncertainty and shortness of my time, 
I am even amazed to think that my heart can be so slow 
and senseless, as to do no more in such a case. The 
Lord knows, and my conscience knows, that my sloth- 
fulness is so much my shame and admiration, that I am 
astonished to think that my resolutions are no stronger, 
my affections no livelier, and my labour and diligence 
no greater, when God is the commander, and his love 
the encourager, and his wrath the spur, and heaven or 
hell must be the issue. O, what lives should all of us 
live, that have things of such unspeakable consequence 
on our hands, if our hearts were not almost dead with- 
in us ! Let who will speak against such a life, it shall 
be my daily grief and moan, that I am so dull, and do 
so little. I know that our works do not profit the Al- 
mighty, nor bear any proportion with his rewaid ; nor 
can they stand in his sight, but as accepted in the Lord 
our righteousness, and perfumed by the odour of his 
merits. But I know they are necessary, and they are 
sweet. Without the holy employment of our faculties, 
this life will be but a burden or a dream, and the next 
an inexpressible misery. O therefore, that I had more 
of the love of God, that my soul could get but nearer 
to him, and move more swiftly upward by faith and 
love ! 0 that I had more of holy life, and active 
diligence, though I had with it the scorns of all about 
me, and though they made me, as they once did better 
men, " as the filth of the world, and the ofiscouring 
of all things !" O that I had more of this derided dili- 



NOW OR NEVER. 



gence, and holy converse with the Lord, though " my 
name was cast out as an evil doer, 55 and I were spit 
at and buffeted by those that do now but secretly re- 
proach ! Might I more closely follow Christ in holiness, 
why should I grudge to bear his cross, and to be used 
as he was used ? Knowing that " if we suffer with him, 
we shall also reign with him ; and the sufferings of 
this present time are not worthy to be compared with 
the glory which shall be revealed in us. 55 

Alas, sirs ! it is nothing but intoxicating prosperity, 
and sensual delights, and worldly diversions, that make 
you think well of ungodly slothfulness, and make you 
think contemptuously of a heavenly lite. There is not 
the boldest infidel in the world, nor the bitterest enemy 
to holiness, but shortly would wish they had rather 
been saints, with all the scorn and cruelty that malice 
can inflict on such, than to have braved it out in pride 
and gallantry, with the neglect of everlasting things. 

Methinks I even see how you will passionately rage 
against yourselves, and tear your hearts with self-re- 
venge, (if grace prevent it not by a safe repentance,) 
when you think too late how you lived on earth, and 
what golden times of grace you lost, and vilified all 
that would not lose them as foolishly as you. If re- 
pentance unto life made St. Paul call himself foolish, 
disobedient, deceived, and exceeding mad, (Tit. in. 3. 
Acts xxvi. 11.) you may imagine how tormenting re- 
pentance will make you call yourselves too late. 

O sirs ! you cannot now conceive, what different 
thoughts will then possess you of a holy and unholy 
life. How mad you will think them that had but one 
life 5 s time of preparation for eternal life, and desperate- 
ly neglected it ! And how sensible you will then be of 
the wisdom of believers, that knew their time, and used 
it while they had it! " Now wisdom is justified of all 
her children ; 55 but then how sensibly will it be justified 
of all its enemies ! 0, with what remorse will undone 
souls look back on a life of mercy and opportunities, 
thus basely undervalued, and slept away in dreaming 
idleness, and fooled away for things of nought ! 

The language of that rich man, Luke xvi. may 



NOW OR NEVER. 



173 



help you in your predictions. 0 how will you wonder 
at yourselves, that ever you could be so blind and 
senseless, as to be no more affected with the warnings 
of the Lord, and with the forethoughts of everlasting 
joy and misery ! To have but one small part of time 
to do all that ever must be done by you for eternity, 
and say all that ever you must say, for your own or 
others' souls, and that this was spent in worse than 
nothing ! To have but one uncertain life, in which 
you must run the race that wins or loses heaven for 
ever ; and that you should be tempted with a thing of 
nought, to lose that one irrecoverable opportunity, and 
to sit still or run another way, when you should have 
been making haste with all your might ! 0 sirs, the 
thoughts of this will be other kind of thoughts another 
day than now you feel them ; you cannot now think 
how the thoughts of this will then affect you ! That 
you had a time in which you might have prayed, with 
promise of acceptance, and had no hearts to take that 
time ! That Christ was offered to you as well as he was 
offered to them that entertained him ; that you were 
called on, and warned as well as they, but obstinately 
despised and neglected all ! That life and death were 
set before you,i and the everlasting joys were offered 
to your choice, against the charms of sinful pleasures, 
and you might have freely had them if you would, and 
were told that holiness was the only way, and that it 
must be now or never, and yet that you chose your 
own destruction ! These thoughts will be part of heli 
to the ungodly. They will wonder that reason could 
be so unreasonable; and that they, who had the com- 
mon wit of men in other matters, should be so far 
beside themselves in that which is the only thing that 
is commendable to be wise for ; that such reasonings 
should prevail with them against the clearest light, and 
nothing should be preferred before all things, and argu- 
ments fetched from chaff should conquer those that 
were fetched from heaven! O what heart-rending 
thoughts will these be, when eternity shall afford them 
leisure for an impartial review! 

Come away speedily from the snares of sinners, and 



174 



NOW OR NEVER. 



the company of deceived hardened men, and cast away 
the works of darkness. Heaven is before you ! Death 
is at hand ! The eternal God hath sent to call you ! 
Mercy doth yet stretch forth its arms ! You have 
stayed too long, and abased patience too much already : 
stay no longer ! 0 now please God, and comfort us, 
and save yourselves, by resolving that u this shall be 
the day : 55 and faithfully performing this your resolu- 
tion, "up and be doing: 55 believe, repent, desire, obey, 
and do all this with all your might ; love him that you 
must love for ever, and love him with all your soul and 
might ; seek that which is truly worth seeking, and 
will pay for all your cost and pains, and seek it first 
with all your might, remembering still it must be now 
or never. 

And now I should conclude, I am loath to end, for 
fear lest I have not yet prevailed with you. What 
are you now resolved to do, from this day forward ? 
It is work that we have been speaking of, and necessary 
work of endless consequence, which must be done, and 
quickly done, and thoroughly done. Are you not con- 
vinced that it is so? that ploughing and sowing are 
not more necessary to your harvest, than the work of 
holiness in this day of grace is necessary to your sal- 
vation ? You are blind, if you see not this ; you are 
dead, if you feel it not : what then will you do ? O 
hear the God of heaven, if you will not hear us, who 
calleth to you, Return and live ! 0 hear him that shed 
his blood for souls, and tendereth you now salvation 
by his blood ! 0 hear without any more delay, before 
ail is gone, and you are gone, and he that now deceiv- 
eth you, torment you ! Yet hold on a little longer in 
a carnal, earthly, unsanctified state, and it is too late 
to hope or pray, or strive for your salvation. Yet a 
little longer, and mercy will have done with you for 
ever ; and Christ will never invite you more, nor ever 
offer to cleanse you by his blood ; nor sanctify you by 
his Spirit. Yet a little longer, and you shall never hear 
a sermon more, and never more be troubled with those 
preachers that were in good earnest with you, and 
longed once for your conversion and salvation. O 



.NOW OR NEVER; 



175 



sleepy, dead-hearted sinners, what should I do to show 
you how near you stand to eternity, and what is now 
doing in the world that you are going to, and how 
these things are thought on there ! What should I 
do to make you know how time is valued, how sin and 
holiness are esteemed in the world where you must live 
for ever ! What should I do to make you know those 
things to-day, which I will not thank you to know when 
you are gone hence ! O that the Lord would open 
your eyes in time ! 0 that I could but make you know 
these things as believers should know them ! I say not 
as those that see them, nor yet as dreamers, that do 
not regard them, but as those that believe that they 
must shortly see them ; what a joyful hour's work should 
I esteem this 1 how happy would it be to you and me ! 
If every word were accompanied with tears ; if this 
sermon cost me as many censures or slanders as ever 
sermon did, I should not think it too dear, if I could 
but help you to such a sight of the things we speak of r 
that you might truly understand them as they are : 
that you had but a true awakened apprehension of the 
shortness of your day, of the nearness of eternity, and 
of the endless consequence of your present work, and 
what holy labour and sinful loitering will be thought, 
of in the world to come for ever. But when we see 
you sin, and trifle, and no more regard your endless 
life, and see also what haste your time is making, and 
yet cannot make you understand these things ; when 
we know ourselves as sure as we speak to you, that 
you will shortly be astonished at the review of your 
present sloth and folly, and when we know that these 
matters are not thought of in another world, as they 
are among sleepy sinners here, and yet know not how 
to make you know it, whom it doth so exceedingly 
much concern, this amazeth us, and almost breaks our 
hearts. Yea, when we tell you of things that are past 
doubt, and can be no further matter of controversy, 
than men have sold their understandings, and betrayed 
their reason to their sordid lusts, and yet we cannot 
get reasonable men to know that which they cannot 
choose but know, to know that seriously and practically 



176 



NOW OR NEVER. 



which always hath a witness in their breasts, and which 
none but the profligate dare deny ; this, even this, is 
worse than a prison to us. It is you that are our per- 
secutors ; it is you that are the daily sorrow of our 
hearts ; it is you that disappoint us of our hopes, and 
make us lose so much of the labour of our lives. 

Sinners, whatever the devil and raging passion may 
say against a holy life, God and your own consciences 
shall be our witnesses, that we desired nothing unrea- 
sonable, or unnecessary at your hands. 

The question that lam putting to you, is not whether 
you will be for this form of church-government, or for 
that : but it is, whether you will hearken in time to 
God and conscience, and be as busy to provide for 
heaven, as ever you have been to provide for earth ? 
It is godliness, serious and practical godliness, that thou 
art called to. It is nothing but what all Christians in 
the world are agreed in. That I may not leave thee 
in any darkness which I can deliver thee from, I will 
tell thee distinctly, though succinctly, what it is that 
thou art thus importuned to ; and tell me, then, whether 
it be that which any Christian can make doubt of. 

1. That which I entreat of thee, is but to live as 
one that verily believeth there is a God ; and that this 
God is the Creator, the Lord and Ruler of the world : 
and that it is incomparably more our business to under- 
stand and obey his laws, and as faithful subjects to be 
conformed to them, than to observe or be conformed 
to the laws of man : and to live as men that do believe 
that this God is Almighty, and that the greatest of men 
are less than crawling worms to him ; and that he is 
infinitely wise, and the wisdom of man is foolishness 
to him ; and that he is infinitely good and amiable ; that 
his love is the only felicity of man ; and that none are 
happy but those that do enjoy it ; and none that do 
enjoy it can be miserable ; and that riches, and honour, 
and fleshly delights are brutish vanities in comparison 
of the eternal love of God. Live but as men that 
heartily believe all this, and I have that I come for : 
and is any of this a matter of controversy or doubt? 
Not among Christians I am sure : not among wise 



NOW OR NEVER. 



177 



men. It is no doubt to those in heaven, nor to those 
in hell, nor to those that have not lost their under- 
standings upon earth. Live then according to these 
truths. 

2. Live as men that verily believe that mankind is 
fallen into sin and misery ; and that all men are cor- 
rupted, and under the condemnation of the law of God, 
till they are delivered, pardoned, reconciled to God, 
and made new creatures, by a renewing, restoring, 
sanctifying change. Live but as men that believe that 
this cure must be wrought, and this great restoring' 
change must be made upon ourselves, if it be not done 
already. Live as men that have so great a work to 
look after ; and is this a matter of any doubt or con- 
troversy ? Sure it is not to a Christian : and methinks 
it should not be to any man else that knoweth himself 
any more than to a man in a dropsy, whether he be 
diseased, when he feels the thirst and sees the swelling. 
Did you but know what cures and changes are neces- 
sarily to be made upon your diseased miserable souls, 
if you care what becomes of them, you would soon see 
cause to look about you. 

3. Live but as men that verily believe that the Son 
of God hath suffered for your sins, and brought you 
the tidings of pardon and salvation, which you may 
have, if you will give up yourselves to him who is the 
physician of souls, to be healed by him. Live as men 
that believe that the infinite love of God, revealed to 
lost mankind in the Redeemer, doth bind us to love 
him with all our hearts, and serve him with all our 
restored faculties, and to work as those that have the 
greatest thankfulness to show, as well as the greatest 
mercies to receive, and misery to escape : and as those 
that believe, that if sinners that, without Christ, had 
not hope, shall now love their sins and refuse to leave 
them, and to repent and be converted, and unthankful- 
ly reject the mercy of salvation so dearly bought, and 
freely offered them, their damnation will be doubled as 
their sin is doubled. 

Live but as men that have such redemption to ad- 
mire, such mercy to entertain, and such a salvation to 



178 



NOW OR NEVER. 



attain, and that, are sure they can never escape if they 
continue to "neglect so great salvation." And is there 
any controversy among Christians in any of this ? There 
is not, certainly. 

4. Live but as men that believe that the Holy Ghost 
is given by Jesus Christ to convert, to quicken, and to 
sanctify all that he will save ; that " except you be 
born again of the Spirit, you shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven and that " if any man have not 
the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his," and that 
without this, no mending of your lives, by any common 
principles, will serve the turn for your salvation, or 
make you acceptable to God. Live as men that be- 
lieve that this Spirit is given by the hearing of the 
word of God, and must be prayed for, and obeyed, and 
not resisted, quenched, and grieved. And is there any 
controversy among Christians in any of this ? 

5. Live but as men that believe that sin is the great- 
est evil, the thing which the holy God abhorreth ; and 
then you will never make a mock of it, as Solomon 
saith the foolish do ; nor say, What harm is in it ? 

6. Live but as men that believe no sin is pardoned 
without repentance ; and that repentance is the loath- 
ing and forsaking of sin ; and that if it be true, it will 
not surfer you to live in any sin, nor to desire to keep 
the least infirmity, nor to be loath to know your un- 
known sins. 

7 Live as those that believe that you are to be 
members of the Holy Catholic Church, and therein to 
hold the communion of saints. And then you will 
know that it is not as a member of any sect or party, 
but as a holy member of this holy church, that you 
must be saved : and that it is the name of a Christian, 
which is more honourable than the name of any divi- 
sion, or subdivision among Christians. 

8. Live as those that believe that there is a life ever- 
lasting, where the sanctified shall live in endless joy, 
and the unsanctified in endless punishment and woe : 
live but as men that verily believe a heaven and a hell, 
and a day of judgment, in which all the actions of this 
life must be revised, and all men judged to their end- 



NOW OR NEVER. 



179 



less state. Believe these things heartily, and then 
think a holy diligence needless if you can. Then he 
of the mind of the deriders and enemies of godliness if 
you can. If one sight of heaven or hell would serve 
without any more ado, instead of other arguments, to 
confute all the cavils of the distracted world, and to 
justify the most diligent saints in the judgment of those 
that now abhor them, why should not a sound belief of 
the same thing in its measure do the same ? 

9. Live but as those that believe this life is given us 
as the only time to make preparation for eternal life : 
and that all that ever shall be done for your salvation, 
must be now, just now, before your time is ended : live 
as those that know, and need not faith to tell them, 
that this time is short, and almost at an end already, 
and stayeth for no man, but, as a post, doth haste 
away. It will not stay while you are taken up at stage 
plays, in compliments, in idle visits, or any impertinent, 
needless things : it will not tarry while you spend yet 
the other year, or month, or day, in your worldliness, 
or ambition, or in your lusts and sensual delights, and. 
put off your repentance to another time. O sirs, for 
the Lord's sake, do but live as men that must shortly 
be buried in the grave, and their souls appear before 
the Lord, and as men that have but this little time to 
do all for their everlasting life, that ever must be done. 
O live as men that are sure to die, and are not sure to 
live till to-morrow : and let not the noise of pleasure or 
worldly business, or the chat or scorns of miserable 
fools, bear down your reason, and make you live as if 
you knew not what you know ; or as if there was any 
doubt about these things. Who is the man and what is 
his name, that dares contradict them, and can make it 
good ? O do not sin against your knowledge : do not 
stand still and see your glass running, and time making 
such haste, and yet make no more haste yourselves, 
than if you were not concerned in it : do not, 0 do not 
slumber, when time and judgment never slumber ; nor 
sit still when you have so much to do, and know all 
that is now left undone must be undone for ever ! 
Alas, sirs, how many questions of exceeding weight 



180 



NOW OE, NEVER. 



have you yet to be resolved in ! whether you are truly 
sanctified? whether your sins he pardoned? whether 
you shall be saved when you die ? whether you are 
ready to leave this world and enter upon another ? I 
tell you, the answering of these and many more such 
questions, is a matter of no small difficulty or concern. 
And all these must be done in this little and uncertain 
time. It must be now or never. Live but as men that 
believe and consider these unquestionable things. 

10. Lastly, Will you but live as men that believe 
that the world and the flesh are the deadly enemies of 
your salvation? and that believe, that " if any man love 
the world, (so far) the love of the Father is not in 
him ?" and as men that believe that, " if ye live after 
the flesh ye shall die ; but if by the Spirit ye mortify 
the deeds of the body, ye shall live ;" and that those 
who are in Christ Jesus, and are freed from condem- 
nation, are such as " walk not after the flesh, but after 
the Spirit?" And that we must "make no provision 
for the flesh, to satisfy the will or lusts thereof ;" and 
must not " walk in gluttony and drunkenness, in cham- 
bering and wantonness, in strife and envy," but must 
" have our hearts where our treasure is," and our con- 
versation in heaven ; and being risen with Christ, 
must seek the things that are above, and set our affec- 
tions on them, and not on things that are on earth. 

Sirs, will you say that any of this is our singular 
opinion, or matter of controversy and doubt ? Are 
not all Christians agreed in it? Do you not, your own 
.selves profess that you believe it? Live then but as 
those that do believe it, and condemn not yourselves in 
the things that} r ou confess. 

I have done my part to open to you the necessity of 
serious diligence^ and to call up the sluggish souls of 
sinners to mind the work of their salvation, and to do 
it speedily^ and with all their might. I must now leave 
the success to God and you. What use you will make of 
it, and what you will be and and do for the time to come, 
is a matter that more concerneth yourselves than me. 

Sirs, the matter is now laid before you. What will 
you now do ? Have I convinced you now, that God 



NOW OR NEVER. 



181 



and your salvation are to be sought with all your 
might ? If I have not, it is not for want of evidence 
in what is said, but for want of willingness in your- 
selves to know the truth. 

It is wonderful, to think that learned men, and gen 
tlemen, and men that pretend to reason and ingenuity, 
can quietly betray their souls, and do the evil that they 
have no more to say for, and neglect that duty that 
they have no more to say against, when they know 
they must do it now or never. That while they con- 
fess that there is a God, and a life to come, a heaven 
and a hell, and that this life is purposely given us for 
preparation for eternity ; while they confess that God is 
most wise, and holy, and good, and just, and that sin 
is the greatest evil, and that the word of God is true, 
they can yet make shift to quiet themselves in an un- 
holy, sensual, careless life ; and that while they honour 
the apostles and martyrs, and saints that are dead and 
gone, they hate their successors and imitators, and the 
lives that they lived. 

Alas ! all this comes from the want of a sound belief 
of the things which they never saw ; and the distance 
of those things, and the power of passion, and sensual 
objects and inclinations, that hurry them away after 
present vanities, and conquer reason, and rob them of 
their humanity ; and from the noise of the company of 
sensual sinners, that harden and deafen one another, 
and by the just judgment of God forsaking those that 
would not know him, and leaving them to the blind- 
ness and hardness of their hearts. But is there no 
remedy ? O Thou, the Fountain of mercy and relief, 
vouchsafe these miserable sinners a remedy ! O Thou, 
the Saviour of lost mankind, have mercy upon these 
sinners in the depth of their security, presumption, and 
misery ! 0 Thou, the Illuminator and Sanctifier of 
souls, apply the remedy so dearly purchased ! 

Poor sleepy sinners, hear us! Though we speak not 
to you as men would do that had seen heaven and hell ; 
and were themselves in a perfectly awakened frame, 
yet hear us while we speak to you the words of truth, 
with some seriousness, and compassionate desire for 
16 



182 



NOW OR NEVER. 



your salvation. 0 look up to your God ! Look out 
unto eternity : Look inwardly upon your souls : Look 
wisely upon your short and hasty time : and then be- 
think you how the little remnant of your time should 
be employed ; and what it is that most concerneth you 
to despatch and secure before you die. Now you have 
sermons, and books, and warnings: it will not be so 
long. Preachers must have done ; God threateneth 
them, and death threateneth them, and men threaten 
them, and it is you, it is you that are most severely 
threatened, and that are called on by God's warnings. 
" If any man have an ear to hear, let him hear." Now 
you have abundance of private helps, you have abun- 
dance of understanding gracious companions ; you 
have the Lord's day to spend in holy exercises, for the 
edification and solace of your souls ; you have choice 
of sound and serious books: 0 what invaluable mer- 
cies are all these ! 0 know your time, and use these 
with industry, and improve this harvest for your souls t 
For it will not be thus always : it must be now or never. 
You have yet time and leave to pray and cry to God 
in hope ; yet if you have hearts and tongues, he hath 
a hearing ear ; the Spirit of grace is ready to assist 
you. It will not be thus always : the time is coming 
when the loudest cries will do no good. O pray, pray, 
pray, poor needy miserable sinners ; for it must be now 
or never. 

You have yet health and strength, and bodies fit to 
serve your souls : it will not be so always : languish- 
ing, and pains, and death are coming. O use your 
health and strength for God ; for it must be now or 
never. 

Yet there are some stirrings of conviction in your 
consciences : you find that all is not well with you ; 
and you have some thoughts or purposes to repent and 
be new creatures. There is some hope in this, that 
yet God hath not quite forsaken you. O trifle not, 
and stifle not the convictions of your consciences, but 
hearken to the witness of God within you. It must be 
now or never. 

Would you not be loath to be, left to the despairing 



I 

NOW OR NEVER. 183 

case of many poor distressed souls, that cry out, c O it 
is now too late ! I fear my day of grace is past ; God 
will not hear me now if I should call upon him : he 
hath forsaken me, and given me over to myself. It is 

( too late to repent, too late to pray, too late to think 

1 of a new life ; all is too late. 5 This case is sad; but 
yet many of these are in a safer and better case than 
1 hey imagine, and are but frightened by the Tempter: 
and it is not too late, while they cry out, c It is too 

| late ;' but if you are left to cry in hell, £ It is too late;' 

! alas, how long and how doleful a cry and lamentation 

| will it be! 

O consider, poor sinner, that God knoweth the time 
and season of thy mercies. He giveth the spring and 
harvest in their season, and all his mercies in their 
season ; and wilt thou not know thy time and season, of 
love, and duty, and thanks to him ? 

Consider that God, who hath commanded thee thy 
work, hath also appointed thee thy time. And this is 
his appointed time. To-day, therefore, hearken to his 
voice, and see that thou harden not thy heart. He 
that bids thee " repent and work out thy salvation with 
fear and trembling/ 5 doth also bid thee do it now. 
Obey him in the time, if thou wilt be indeed obedient ; 
he best understandeth the fittest time. One would 
think to men that have lost so much already, and 
loitered so long, and are so lamentably behindhand, 
and stand so near the bar of God, and their everlasting 
state, there should be no need to say any more to per- 
suade them to be up and doing. I shall add but this : 
6 You are never like to have a better time. 5 Take this, 
or the work will grow more difficult, more doubtful, if 
through the just judgment of God, it become not des- 
perate. If all this will not serve, but stiii you will loiter 
till time be gone, what can your poor friends do but 
lament your misery ! The Lord knows, if we knew 
what words, what pains, what cost would tend to your 
awakening, and conversion, and salvation, we should 
be glad to submit to it : and we hope we should not 
think our labours, or liberties, or our lives too dear to 
promote so blessed and so necessary a work. But if 



184 



NOW OR NEVER. 



when all this is done that we can do, you will leave us 
nothing but our tears and moans for self-destroyers, 
the sin is yours, and the suffering shall be yours. If I 
can do no more, I shall leave tiiis upon record, that we 
took our time to tell you, that serious diligence is ne- 
cessary to your salvation ; and that God is the " Re- 
warder of them that diligently seek him," and that this 
was your day, your only day. It must be now or 
never. 



I 

i 



FIFTY REASONS 

WHY A SINNER OUGHT TO TURN TO GOD 
WITHOUT DELAY. 

[with some abridgment.] 



HEBREWS III. 7, 8. 

To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 

1. Consider to whom it is that you are commanded 
to turn ; and then tell me whether there can be any 
reason for delay. It is not to an empty deceitful crea- 
ture, but to the faithful all-sufficient God ; to Him that 
is the cause of all things ; the strength of the creation ; 
the joy of angels ; the felicity of the saints ; the sun and 
shield of all the righteous ; the refuge of the distressed ; 
and the glory of the whole world. Of such power, that 
his word can take down the sun from the firmament, 
and turn the earth and all things into nothing ; for he 
doth more in giving them their being anfl continuance : 
of such wisdom, that he was never guilty of mistake ; 
and therefore will not mislead you, nor draw you to 
any thing that is not for the best : of such goodness, as 
that evil cannot stand in his sight, and nothing but 
your evil could make him displeased with you ; and it is 
from nothing but evil, that he calleth you to turn. It 
is not to a malicious enemy, that would do you mis- 
chief, but to a gracious God that is love itself ; not to an 
implacable justice, but to a reconciled Father ; not to 
revenging indignation, but to the embrace of those 
16* 



186 



FIFTY REASONS. 



arms, and the mercy of that compassionate Lord, that 
is enough to melt the hardest heart, when you find 
yourself, as the poor returning prodigal, in his bosom, 
when you deserved to be under his feet. And will the 
great and blessed God invite thee to his favour, and 
wilt thou delay and demur upon the return ? The 
greatest of the angels of heaven are glad of his favour, 
and value no happiness but the light of his counte- 
nance. Heaven and earth are supported by him, and 
nothing can stand without him. How glad would 
those very devils be of his favour, that tempt thee 
to neglect his favour ! And wilt thou delay to turn 
to such a God? Why, man, thou art every minute 
at his mercy. And yet dost thou delay? There are all 
things imaginable in him to draw thee. There is 
nothing that is good for thee, but it is perfectly in him, 
where thou mayst have it certain and perpetual. 
There is nothing in him to give the least discourage- 
ment : let all the devils in hell, and all the enemies of 
God on earth, say the worst they can against his ma- 
jesty, and they are not able to find the smallest blemish 
in his absolute holiness, and wisdom, and goodness. 
And yet wilt thou delay to return ? 

2. Consider, also, to what it is that thou must turn 
Not to uncleanness, but to holiness ; not to the sensual 
life of a beast, but to the noble rational life of a man, 
and the more noble heavenly life of a Christian ; not to 
an unprofitable worldly toil, but to the most gainful 
employment that ever the sons of men were acquainted 
with ; not to the deceitful drudgery of sin, but to that 
godliness whiclfcis profitable to all things, "having the 
promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to 
come." Sirs, do you know what a life of holiness is? 
You do not know it, if you turn away from it. I am 
sure, if you knew it, you would never fly from it. 
No, nor endure to live without it. Why. a life of ho- 
liness is nothing but living unto God ; to be conversant 
with him, as the wicked are with the world ; and to 
be devoted to his service, as sensualists are to the flesh. 
It is to live in the love of God, and of our Redeemer ; 
and in the foretaste of hie everlasting glory, and of his 



FIFTY REASONS. 



187 



love ; and in the sweet fore-thoughts of that blessed 
life that shall never end; and in the honest self-denying 
course that leadeth to that blessedness. A godly life 
is nothing else but a sowing the seed of heaven on 
earth ; and a learning, in the school of Christ, the songs 
of praise which we must use before the throne of God; 
and by suffering, — a learning how to triumph and reign 
with Christ. 

Can you delay to come into your Father's family ; 
into the vineyard of the Lord ; into the kingdom of 
God on earth ; to be " fellow-citizens of the saints, and 
of the household of God ;" to have the pardon of all 
your sins, and the sealed promise of everlasting glory? 



called to the porch of heaven, into the beginning of sal- 
vation ; and will you delay to accept everlasting life? 

3. Consider also, From what you are called to turn ; 
and then judge whether there be any reason of delay. 
It is from the devil, your enemy ; from the love of a 
deceitful world; from the seductions of corrupted 
brutish flesh ; it is from sin, the greatest evil. What 
is there in sin, that you should delay to part with it ? 
Is there any good in it? Or what hath it ever done 
for you that you should love it? Did it ever do you 
good? Or did it ever do any man good? It is the 
deadly enemy of Christ and you, that caused his death, 
and will cause yours, and is working for your condem- 
nation, if converting and pardoning grace prevent it 
not. And are you loath to leave it ? It is the cause 
of all the miseries of the world, of all the sorrows that 
ever did befall you, and the cause of the damnation of 
them that perish ; and do you delay to part with it ? 

4. Your delaying shows that you love not God, and 
that you prefer your sin before him, and that you 
would never part with it if you could have your will. 
For if you loved God, you would long to be restored 
to his favour, and to be near him, and employed in his 
service and his family. Love is quick and diligent, 
and will not draw back. And it is a sign also that you 
are in love with sin: for else, why should you be so 
loath to leave it ? He that would not leave his sin and 




called on to turn, you are 



188 



FIFTY REASONS. 



turn to God, till the next week, or the next month, or 
year, would never turn if he might have his desire. 
For that which makes you desirous to stay a day or a 
week longer, doth indeed make you loath to turn at 
all. And therefore it is but hypocrisy to say, that you 
are willing to turn hereafter, if you are not willing to 
do it now without delay. 

5. Consider, what a case you are in, while you thus 
delay? Do you think you stand in a safe condition? 
If you knew where you are, you would sit as upon 
thorns as long as you are unconverted ; you would be 
as a man that stood up to the knees in the sea, and saw 
the tide coming towards him, who certainly would 
think that there is no standing still in such a place. 
You have all your sin unpardoned ; you are under the 
curse of the law ; the wrath of God is upon you, and 
the fulness of it hangs over your heads ; judgment is 
coming to pass upon you the dreadful doom ; the Lord 
is at hand ; death is at the door, and waits but for the 
word from the mouth of God, that it may arrest you, 
and bring you to everlasting misery : and is this a state 
for a man to continue in ? 

6. Moreover, Your delaying giveth great advantage 
to the Tempter. If you would presently turn and for- 
sake your sins, and enter into a faithful covenant with 
God, the devil would be almost out of hope, and the 
very heart of his t mptations would be broken. He 
would see that now it is too late ; there is no getting 
you out of the arms of Christ. But as long as you 
delay, you keep him in heart and hope ; he hath time 
to strengthen his prison and fetters, and to renew his 
snares ; and if one temptation serve not, he hath time 
to try another and another ; as if you would stand as 
a mark for Satan to shoot at, as long as he pleases. 
What likelihood is there that ever so foolish a sinner 
should be recovered and saved from his sin ? 

7. Moreover, Your delaying is a vile abuse of Christ 
and the Holy Ghost, and may so far provoke him, as 
to leave you to yourself and then you are past help. 
If you delight so to trample on your crucified Lord, 
and will so long put him to it by refusing his grace and 



FIFTY REASONS. 



grieving his Spirit, what can you expect but that he 
should turn away in wrath, and utterly forsake you. 

8. Consider, also, I beseech you, if you ever mean to 
turn, what it is that you stay for. Do you think to 
bring down Christ and heaven to your own terms, and 
to be saved hereafter with less ado ? Sure, you can- 
not be so foolish : for God will be still the same ; and 
Christ the same ; and his promise hath still the same 
condition, which he will never change ; and godliness 
will be the same, and as much against your carnal in- 
terest hereafter as it is now. When you have looked 
about you ever so long, you will never find a fairer or 
nearer way ; but this same way you must go or perish. 
If you cannot leave sin now, how shall you leave it 
then ? It will still be as sweet to your flesh as now i 
or if one grow stale by the decay of nature, another 
that is worse will spring up in its stead, and though 
the acts abate, they will all live still at the root ; for 
sin was never mortified by age. So that if ever you 
will turn, you may best turn now. 

9. Yea, more than that, the longer you stay, the 
harder it will be. If it be hard to-day, it is like to be 
harder to-morrow. For as the Spirit of Christ is like 
to forsake you for your wilful delays, so custom will 
strengthen sin: and custom in sinning will harden 
your hearts, and make you " past feeling, to work 
all uncleanness with greediness. 35 Cannot you crush 
this serpent when it is but weak : and can you en- 
counter it in its serpentine strength ? Cannot you 
pluck up a tender plant ; and can you pluck up an oak 
or cedar ? O sinners ! what do you mean, to make 
your recovery so difficult by delay ? You are never 
like to be- fairer for heaven, and to find conversion an 
easier work, than now you may do. Will you stay 
till the work be ten times harder, and yet do you think 
it so hard already ? 

10. Consider, also, that sin gets daily victories by 
your delay. We lay out batteries against it, and preach, 
and exhort, and pray against it, and it gets a kind of 
victory over all, as long as we prevail not with you to 
turn. It conquereth our persuasions and advice ; it 



1^0 



FIFTY REASONS. 



conquereth all the stirrings of your consciences ; it 
conquereth all your heartless purposes and deceitful 
promises. And these frequent conquests strengthen 
your sin, and weaken your resistance, and leave the 
matter almost hopeless. Before a physician hath used 
remedies, he hath more hope of a cure, than when he 
hath tried all means, and finds that the best medicines 
do no good, but the man is still as bad or worse. So 
when all means have been tried with you, and yet you 
are unconverted, the case draws towards desperation 
itself : the very means are disabled more than before ; 
that is, your hearts are harder to be wrought upon by 
them. When you have long been under sermons and 
reading, and among good examples, and yet you are 
unconverted, these ordinances lose much of their force 
with you. Custom will make you slight them, and be 
<de-ad-hearted under them. And it is these very same 
means and truths, that you have frustrated, that must 
do the work, or it will never be done. 

11. Moreover, age itself hath many inconveniences, 
and youth hath many great advantages : and therefore 
it is folly to delay. In age the understanding and 
memory grow dull, and people grow incapable, and 
almost unchangeable. We see, by our every day's 
experience, that men think they should not change 
when they are old ; that opinion or practice, in which 
they have been brought up, they think they should 
not then forsake. To learn when they are old, and to 
turn when they are old — you see how much they are 
against it. Besides, how unfit is age to be at that 
pains that youth can undergo ? How unfit to begin 
the holy warfare against the flesh, the world, and the 
devil ? God's way is to list his soldiers as soon as may 
be, when in youth ; but the devil will persuade them 
that it is yet too soon ; and when he can no longer 
persuade them that it is yet too soon, he will then per- 
suade that it is too late. O what a happy thing it is 
to come to God betimes, and with the first ! What 
advantage hath youth ! They have the vigour of wit 
and of body ; they are not rooted and hardened in sin, 



FIFTY REASONS. 



191 



nor filled with prejudice and obstinacy against godliness, 
as others are. 

12. You have such times of advantage and encour- 
agement as few ages of the world have ever seen, and 
few nations on earth enjoy at this day. What plain 
and plentiful teaching have you ! What abundance of 
good examples, and the society of the godly ! Private 
and public helps are common. Seldom has the church 
seen such days on earth. And yet is not the way to 
heaven fair enough for you ? Yet are you not ready to 
turn to God ? Will you delay till harvest time be over, 
and the winter of persecution come again ? Have you 
sun, and wind, and tide to serve you, and will you stay 
to set out in storms and darkness ? 

13. Moreover, Your delay doth cast your conversion 
and salvation into hazard, yea, into many and grievous 
hazards. And is your everlasting happiness a matter 
to be wilfully hazarded, by causeless and unreasonable 
delays ? If you delay to-day, you are utterly uncertain 
of living till to-morrow. If you put by this one mo- 
tion, you know not whether ever you may have another. 
You know not whether ever the Spirit of God will pu x 
another thought of turning into jour hearts ; or at least 3 
whether he will incline your hearts to turn. 

14. Moreover, the delay of conversion continueth 
your sin, and so you will daily increase their number, 
and increase your guilt, and make your souls abun- 
dantly miserable. Are you not deep enough in debt 
to God already, and have you not sins enough to 
answer for upon your souls ? Would you fain have 
one year's sins more, or one day's sins more, to be 
charged upon you ? 0, if you did but know what sin 
is, it would amaze you to think what a mountain lieth 
already upon your consciences ! One sin unpardoned 
will sink the sinner into hell ; and you have many a 
thousand upon your souls already, and would you yet 
have more ? Methinks you should rather look about 
you, and bethink you how you may get a pardon for 
all that is past. 

15. And as sin increaseth daily by delay, so conse- 
quently the wrath of God increaseth, and you will run 



192 



FIFTY REASONS. 



further into his displeasure, and possibly you may cut 
down the bough that you stand upon, and hasten 
destruction to yourselves. When you live daily upon 
God, and are kept out of hell, by a miracle of his mercy, 
methinks you should not desire yet longer to provoke 
him, lest he withdraw his mercy, and let you fall into 
misery. 

16. And do but consider, What will become of you 
if ye be found in these delays ? You are then lost, body 
and soul, for ever. Now if you had but hearts to know 
what is good for you, the worst of you might be con- 
verted and saved ; for God doth freely otier you his 
grace. But if you die in your delays, in the twinkling 
of an eye you will find yourselves utterly undone for 
ever. 

17. Consider, That your very time, which you lose 
by these delays, is an inconceivable loss. When time 
is gone, what would you then give for one of those 
years, or days, or hours, which you now fooli hly trifle 
away ? 0 wretched sinners, are there so many thou- 
sand souls in hell that would give a world, if they had 
it, for one of your days ; and yet can you afford to 
throw them away in worldliness, and sensuality, and 
loitering delays ? I tell you, time is better worth than 
all the wealth and honours of the world. The day is 
coming when you will value time : when it is gone 
you will know what a blessing you made light of. 

18. Consider also, that God hath given you no time 
to spare. He hath not lent you one day or hour, more 
than is needful for the work that you have to do ; 
therefore you have no reason to lose any by your 
delays. Do you imagine that God would give a man 
an hour's time for nothing ? much less to abuse him 
and serve his enemy. No, let me tell you, that if you 
make your best of every hour, if you should never lose 
a moment of your lives, you would find all little enough 
for the work you have to do. I know not how others 
think of time, but for my part I am forced daily to say, 
How swift, how short is time ! And how great is our 
work ! And when we have done our best, how slowly 
it goeth on ! 0 precious time ! W^hat hearts have 



FIFTY REASONS. 



193 



th^y, what lives do those men lead, that think time 
long ! That have time to spare, and to pass in idle- 
ness ! 

19. To convince you more, Consider, I beseech you, 
the exceeding greatness of the work you have to do ; 
and tell me then, whether it be time for you to delay. 
Especially you, that are yet unconverted, and strangers 
to the heavenly nature of the saints, — you have far 
more to do than other men. You have a multitude of 
headstrong passions to subdue, and abundance of 
deadly sins to kill, and rooted vices to root up : you 
have a false opinion of God, and his ways, to be plucked 
tip; and the customs of many years' standing to be 
broken : you have blind minds that must be enlighten- 
ed with heavenly knowledge, and abundance of spiri- 
tual truths that are above the reach of flesh and blood, 
that you must needs learn and understand : you have 
much to know, that is hard to be known : you have a 
-dead soul to be made alive, and a hard heart to be 
melted ; and a seared conscience to be softened, and 
made tender ; and the guilt of many thousand sins to 
be pardoned : you have a new heart to get, and a new 
end to aim at, and seek after, and a new life to live ; 
abundance of enemies you have to fight with, and 
overcome ; abundance of temptations to resist and 
conquer ; many graces to get, and preserve, and exer- 
cise, and increase ; and abundance of holy work to do 
for the service of God, and the good of yourselves and 
others. 0 what a deal of work doth every one of 
these words contain ! And yet what abundance more 
might 1 name ! And have you all this to do, and yet 
will you delay? And they are not indifferent matters 
that are before you : it is no less than the saving of 
your souls, and obtaining the blessed glory of the saints. 
Necessity is upon you. These are things that must be 
done, or else woe to you that ever you were born ! 
And yet have you another day to lose ? Why, sirs, 
if you had a hundred miles to go in a day or two, upon 
pain of death, would you delay? 0 think of the work 
that you have to do, arid then judge whether it be not 
time to stir ? 

17 



194 



FIFTY REASONS. 



20. And methinks it should exceedingly terrify yoti 
to consider, What multitudes perish by such delays ; 
and how few that wilfully delay, are ever converted 
and saved ! Many a soul, that once had purposes 
hereafter to repent, is now in the misery where there 
is no repentance that will do theai any good. For my 
part, though I have known some very few converted 
when they were old ; yet I must needs say, both that 
they were very few indeed, and I had reason to believe, 
that they were such as had sinned before in ignorance, 
and did not wilfully put off repentance, when they were 
convinced that they must turn. Though I doubt not 
but God may convert even these if he please, yet I 
cannot say that I have ever known many, if any such, 
to be converted. Sure I am that God's usual time is 
in childhood, or youth, before they have long abused 
grace, and wilfully delayed to turn when they were 
convinced. Some considerable time, I confess, may 
have elapsed before their first convictions and purposes 
be brought to any great ripeness of performance : but 
O how dangerous it is to delay ! 

21. Consider, also, Either conversion is good or bad 
for you ; either it is needfu] or unnecessary. If it be bad--, 
and a needless thing, then let it alone altogether. But 
if you are convinced that it is good and necessary, is it 
not better now than to stay any longer ? Is it not the 
sooner the better ? Are you afraid of being safe or hap- 
py too soon ? If you are sick, you care not how soon 
you are well ; if you have a bone out, you care not how 
soon it is set ; if you fall into the water, you care not 
how soon you get out ; if your house be on fire, you 
care not how soon it be quenched ; if you are put in 
fear by any doubts or ill tidings, you care not how soon 
your fears be over. And yet are you afraid of being 
too soon out of the power of the devil, and the danger 
of hell ; and of being too soon the sons of God, and the 
holy, justified heirs of heaven ? 

22. Consider, also, Either you can turn now, or not. 
If you can and yet will not, you are utterly without 
excuse. If you cannot to-day, how much less will you, 
be able hereafter 3 when strength is less, and difficulties 



! 



FIFTY REASONS. 



195 



greater, and burdens more? Is it not time, therefore, 
to apply to Christ for strength ; and should not the very 
sense of your inability dissuade you from delay? 

23. Consider how long you have stayed already, 
and put God's patience to it by your folly. Have not 
the devil, the world, and the flesh, had many years' time 
iof your life already? Have you not long enough been 
swallowing the poison of sin ; and long enough been 
abusing the Lord that made you ; and the blood of the 
Son of God that was shed for you; and the Spirit of 
grace, that hath moved and persuaded you ? Are you 
not yet gone far enough from God ? And have you not 
yet done enough to the destroying of yourselves, and 
casting away everlasting life ? 0 wretched sinners ! it 
is rather time for you to fall down on your faces before 
the Lord, and with tears and groans to lament it day 
and night, that ever you have gone so far in sin, and 
delayed so long to turn to him as you have done. 
Sure, if after so many years' rebellion, you are yet so 
far from lamenting it, that you had rather have more 
of it, and had rather hold on a little longer, no wonder 
if God forsake you, and let you alone. 

24. Have you any hopes of God's acceptance and 
your salvation, or not ? If you have such hopes, — that, 
when you turn, God will pardon all your sins, and give 
you everlasting life, — is it, think you, an ingenuous 
thing to desire to offend him yet a little longer, from 
whom you expect such exceeding mercy and glory ? 
Have you the faces to speak out what is in your hearts 
and practice ; and to go to God with such words as 
these ? c Lord, I know 1 cannot have the pardon of one 
sin without the blood of Christ, and the riches of thy 
mercy. Nor can I be saved from hell without it : but 
yet I hope for all this from thy grace. I beseech thee 
let me live a little longer in my sins ; a little longer let 
rne trample on the blood of Christ, and despise thy 
commandments, and abuse thy mercies ; and then par- 
don me all that ever I did, and take me into glory. 5 — 
Could you for shame put such a request to God as this ? 
If you could, you are past shame: if not, then do not 



196 



FIFTY REASONS. 



practise and desire that which you cannot, for shame, 
speak out and request. 

25. Moreover, It is an exceeding advantage to you 
to come to God betimes ; *md an exceeding loss, that 
you will suffer by delay, if you were sure to be con- 
verted at the last. If you speedily come in, you may 
have time to learn, and get more understanding in the 
matters of God, than otherwise can be expected. For 
knowledge will not be had but by time and study. You 
may also have time to get strength of grace, when be- 
ginners can expect no more than infant strength. You 
may grow to be men of parts and abilities, to be useful 
in the church, and profitable to those about you, when 
others cannot go or stand, unless they lean on the 
stronger for support. If you come in betimes, you may 
do God service ; which, in the evening of the day, you 
will neither have strength nor time to do. You may 
have time to get assurance of salvation, and to be 
ready with comfort, when death shall call ; when a 
weakling is like to be perplexed with doubts and 
fears, and death is like to be terrible, because of their 
unreadiness. 

26. And did you ever consider, who and how many 
stay for you while you delay ? Do you know who it is 
that you make to wait your leisure ? God himself stands 
over you with the offers of his mercy, as if he thought 
it long till you return, saying, " O that there were such 
a heart in them I" and " when will it once be !" " How 
long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and 
scorners delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge ? 
Turn ye at my reproof." And do you think it wise, or 
safe, for you to make the God of heaven wait on you, 
while you are serving his enemy ? Can you offer God 
a baser indignity, than to expect he should support 
your lives, and feed you, and preserve you, and pa- 
tiently forbear while you abuse him to his face, and 
drudge for the flesh, the world, and the devil? Should 

a worm thus use the Lord that made him, marvel not, j 
if he withdraw his supporting mercy, and let such | 
wretches drop into hell ! 

And it is not God only, but his servants, and crea- 



FIFTY REASONS. 



197 



lures, and ordinances, that are all waiting on you. The 
angels stay for the joy that is due to them upon your 
conversion. Ministers are studying, and preaching, 
and praying for you ; godly neighbours are praying, 
and longing for your change. The springs and rivers 
are flowing for you ; the winds blow for you ; the sun 
shines for you ; the clouds rain for you ; the earth 
bears fruit for you ; the beasts must labour, and suffer, 
and die for you ; all things are doing, and would you 
stand still or else do worse ? What haste makes the 
sun about the world, to return in its time to give you 
light ! What haste make other creatures in your ser- 
vice ! And yet must you delay ? Must God stay, and 
Christ and the Spirit stay? Must angels stay, must 
ministers stay, must the godly stay, and the ordinances 
stay, and all the creatures stay your leisure, while you 
are abusing God, and your souls, and others, and while 
you delay, as if it were too soon to turn ? 

27. Consider, That when you were lost, the Son of 
God did not delay the work of redemption. He pre- 
sently undertook it, and turned by the stroke of con- 
demning justice. In the fullness of time he came and 
performed what he undertook ; he failed not one day 
of his appointed time. And will you now delay to ac- 
cept the benefit and to turn to him ? Must he make 
such haste to save you at so dear a rate, and now will 
you delay to be saved ? 

28 Moreover, God doth not delay to do you good. 
You have the day and night in their proper seasons ; 
the sun doth not fail to rise upon you at the appointed 
time ; you have the spring and harvest in their proper 
seasons ; the former and the latter rain in season. 
When you are in want, you have seasonable supplies ; 
and when you are in danger, you have seasonable de- 
liverances. And is it meet or equal that you should 
refuse to bring forth seasonable fruit, but still be put- 
ting off God with your delays ? 

29. Moreover, When you are in trouble and neces- 
s ity> y°u are then in haste for deliverance and relief. 
Then you think every day a week, till your danger or 
suffering be past. If you be under the pain ofa dis- 
17* 



198 



FIFTY REASONS. 



ease, or in danger of death, or under poverty, or op- 
pression, or disgrace, you would have God relieve you 
without delay ; and yet you will not turn to him with- 
out delay. Then you are ready to cry out, ' How long, 
Lord, how long till deliverance come V But you will 
not hear God, when he crieth to you, in your sins — 
How long will it be ere you turn from your transgres- 
sions? When shall it once be? When you are to re- 
ceive any outward deliverance, you care not how soon ; 
"but when you are to turn to God, and receive his grace 
and title to glory, then you care not how late, as if you 
had no mind of it. Can you, for shame, beg of God to 
hasten your deliverance, when you remember your 
delays, and still continue to trifle with him and draw 
back ? 

30. Your present prosperity, and worldly delights, 
are passing away without delay ; and should you de- 
lay to make sure of better in their stead ? Time is 
going ; and health is going ; youth is going ; yea, life 
is going ; your riches are taking wing ; your fleshly 
pleasures do perish in the very using. Shortly you 
must part with house and lands, with goods and friends ; 
and all your mirth and earthly business will be done. 
All this you know, and yet will you delay to lay up a 
durable treasure, which you may trust upon, and to 
provide you abetter tenement before you be turned out 
of this ? W^hat will you do for a habitation, for plea- 
sures and contents, when all that you have now is 
spent and gone, and earth will afford you nothing but 
a grave? If you could but keep that you have, I should 
not much wonder, that knowing so little of God and 
another world, you look not much after it ; but when 
you perceive death knocking at your doors, and seeing 
all your worldly comforts are packing up and hasting 
away, methinks you should presently turn, and make 
sure of heaven, without any more delay. 

31. Consider, also, Whether it be equal that you 
should delay your conversion, when you can season- 
ably despatch your worldly business ; and when your 
flesh would be provided for, you can hearken to it 
without delay. You have wit enough to sow your seed 



FIFTY REASONS. 



199 



in season, and will not delay it till the time of harvest. 
You will reap your corn when it is ripe, and gather 
your fruit when it is ripe, without delay. You observe 
the seasons in the course of your labours, day by day, 
and year by year. You will not lie in bed, when you 
should be at your work, nor delay all night to go to your 
rest ; nor suffer your servants to delay your business. 
If you be sick, you will seek help without delay, lest 
your disease should grow to be incurable. And yet 
will you delay your conversion, and the making sure 
of heaven ? Why, sirs, shall these trifles be done with- 
out delay, and shall your salvation be put off? Can you 
have time for every thing, except that one thing which 
all the rest are merely to promote, and in comparison 
of which they are all but dreams ? Can you have time 
to work, to plough, and sow, and reap, and cannot you 
have time to prepare for eternal life ? Why, sirs, if you 
cannot find time yet to search your hearts, to turn to 
God, and prepare for death, give over eating and 
drinking, and sleeping, and say, you cannot have time 
for these. You may as wisely say so for these smaller 
matters, as for the greater. 

31. Moreover, if men offer you conveniences and 
commodities for your bodies, you will not stand delay- 
ing, and need so many persuasions to accept them. If 
your landlord would for nothing renew your lease ; if 
any man would give you houses or lands, would you 
delay so long before you would accept them ? A beggar 
at your door will not only thankfully take your alms, 
without your entreaty and importunity, but will beg 
for it, and be importunate with you to give it. And 
yet will you delay to accept the blessed offers of grace, 
which are so much greater ? 

33. Yet consider, that it is God that is the giver, and 
you that are the miserable beggars and receivers. And 
therefore it is fitter you should wait on God and call on 
him for his grace, when he seemeth to delay, and not 
that he should wait on you. He can live without your 
receiving, but you cannot live without his giving. The 
beggar must be glad of an alms at any time ; and the 
condemned person of a pardon at any time ; but the 



200 



FIFTY REASONS. 



giver may well expect that his gifts be received with- 
out delay, or else he may let them go without. 

34. And me thinks you should not deal worse with 
God, when he comes to you as a physician to save your 
own souls, than you would do with a neighbour, or a 
friend, when it is not for your own good, but for theirs. 
If your neighbour lay a dying, you would go and visit 
him without delay. If he fell down in a swoon, you 
would catch him up without delay. If he fell into the 
fire or water, you would pluck him out without delay. 
Yea, you would do thus much to a very beast. And 
yet will you delay, when it is not another, but your- 
selves that are sinking and drowning, and within a step 
of death and desperation ? 

35. If yet you perceive not how unreasonably you 
deal with God and your souls, I beseech you, consider, 
whether you do not deal worse with him than you do 
with the devil himself. If Satan or his servants per- 
suade you to sin, you delay not so long but you are 
presently at it. You are ready to follow every tippling 
companion or gamester that puts up the finger. You 
are as willing to go, as they are to invite you. The very 
sight of the cup does presently prevail with the drunk- 
ard ; and the sight of a harlot prevaileth with the for- 
nicator ; and sin can be presently entertained without 
delay. But when God comes, when Christ calleth, 
when the Spirit moveth, when the minister persuadeth, 
when conscience is convinced, we can have nothing 
but wishes, and purposes, and promises with delays. 

Nay, more than this : so eager are they on their sin, 
that we are not able to entreat them to delay it. When 
the passionate man is but provoked, we cannot per- 
suade him to delay his railing language, so long as to con- 
sider first of the issue. We cannot entreat the drunkard 
to put off his drunkenness but for one twelve months, 
while he trieth another course. All the ministers in 
the country cannot persuade the "worldling to forbear 
his worldlincss, and the proud persons their pride, and 
the ungodly person his ungodliness, for the space of one 
month, or week, or day. And yet when God hath a 



FIFTY REASONS. 



201 



command and a request to them, to turn to him and be 
saved, here they can delay, without our entreaty. 

36. Consider also, that it is not possible for you to 
turn too soon : nor will you ever have cause to repent 
of your speediness. Delay may undo you ; but speedy 
turning can do you no harm. Should there be any 
delay, where it is not possible to be too hasty ? Do you 
think that there is ever a saint in heaven, yea, or on 
earth, that is sorry he continued not longer unconvert- 
ed ? No : you shall never hear of such a repentance 
from the mouth of any that is indeed converted. 

37. But I must tell you on the contrary, that if ever 
you be so happy as to be converted, you will repent it, 
and a hundred times repent it, that you delayed so long 
before you yielded. O, how it will grieve you, when 
your hearts are melted with the love of God, and are 
overcome with the infinite kindness of his pardoning, 
saving grace, that ever you had the hearts to abuse such 
a God, and deal so unkindly with him, and stand out so 
long against that compassion that was seeking your sal 
vation ! O, how it will grieve your hearts, to consider 
that you have spent so much of your lives in sin, for 
the devil, and the flesh, and the deceitful world ! O, 
you will think with yourselves, 6 Was not God more 
worthy of my youthful days ? Had I not better have 
spent them in his service, and in the work of my sal- 
vation ? Alas, that I should waste such precious days, 
and now be so far behindhand as I am ! Now I want 
that faith, that hope, that love, that peace, that assur- 
ance, that joy in the Holy Ghost, which I might have 
had, if I had spent those years for God, which I spent 
in the service of the world and the flesh.' 

38. And I pray you, consider whether it belongs 
of right to God or you, to determine of the day and 
hour of your coming in. It is he that must give you 
the pardon of your sins ; and doth it not belong to 
him to appoint the time of your receiving it ? You can- 
not have Christ and life without him : it is he that 
must give you the kingdom of heaven : and is he not 
worthy, then, to appoint the time of your conversion, 



202 



FIFTY REASONS. 



that you may be made partakers of it ? But if he say, 
To-day, dare you say, I will stay till to-morrow ? 

39. Nay, consider, whether God or you he likelier 
to know the meetest time. Dare you say that you 
know better when to turn than God doth ? I suppose 
you dare not ; and if you dare not say so, for shame, 
let not your practice say so. God saith, " To-day, 
while it is called to-day, hear my voice, and harden 
not your hearts." And dare you say, It is better to 
stay one month longer, or one day longer i God saith, 
" Behold, this is the accepted time ! Behold, this is 
the day of salvation !" And will you say, It is time 
enough to-morrow ? Do you know better than God ? 
If your physician do but tell you in a pleurisy or a 
fever, You must let blood this day — before to-morrow ; 
you have so much reason as to submit to his under- 
standing, and think that he knows better than you : 
and cannot you allow as much to the God of wisdom ? 

40. Consider, also, that the speediness of your con- 
version, when God first calls you, doth make you the 
more welcome, and is a thing exceedingly pleasing to 
God. Our proverb is, A speedy gift is a double gift. 
If you ask any thing of a friend, and he giv6 it you pre- 
sently and cheerfully at the first asking, you will think 
you have it with a good-will ; but if he stand long 
delaying first, and demurring upon it, you will think 
that you have it with an ill-will, and that you owe him 
the smaller thanks. If a very beggar at your door 
must stay long for an alms, he will think he is the less 
beholden to you. How much more may God be dis- 
pleased, when he must stay so long for his own, and 
that for your benefit ! God loveth a cheerful giver, 
and consequently, a cheerful obeyer of his call ; and 
if it be hearty and cheerful, it is the likelier to be 
speedy, without such delays. 

41. And I would desire you but to do with God as 
you would be done by. Would you take it well of your 
children, if they should tear all their clothes, and cast 
their meat to the dogs, and tread it in the dirt, and 
when you entreat them, they will not regard you? 
Would you stand month after month entreating and 



FIFTY REASONS. 



203 



waiting on them, as God doth on you? If your ser- 
vant will spend the whole day and year in drinking and 
playing, when he should do your work, will you wait 
on him all the year with entreaties, and pay him at 
last, as if he had served you ? And can you expect 
that God should deal so with you ? 

42. And consider, I entreat you, that your delay is a 
denial, and so may God interpret it ; for the time of 
your turning is part of the command. He that saith, 
Turn, saith, Now, even to-day, without delay. He 
giveth you no longer day. If time be lengthened, and 
the offer made again and again, that is more than he 
promised you, or you could have promised yourselves- 
His command is, Now return and live. And if you 
refuse the time, the present time, you refuse the offer, 
and forfeit the benefit. And if you knew but what it 
is to give God a denial in such a case as this, and what 
a case you were in, if he should turn away in wrath 
and never come near you more ; you would then be 
afraid of jesting with his hot displeasure, or trifling 
with the Lord. 

43. And, methinks, you should remember, that God 
does not stay thus on all, as he doth on you. Thou- 
sands are under despair, and past all remedy, while 
patience is waiting yet upon you. Can you forget that 
others are in hell at this very hour, for as small sins as 
those that you are yet entangled and linger in ? Good 
Lord, what a thing is a senseless heart ! That at the 
same time when millions are in misery, for delaying o? 
refusing to be converted, their successors should fear- 
lessly venture in their steps ! 

44. And I must tell you, that God will not always 
thus wait on you, and attend you by his patience, as 
hitherto he hath done. Patience hath his appointed 
time. And if you out-stay that time, you are misera- 
ble. I can assure you, sirs, the glass is turned upon 
you, and when it is run out, you shall never have an 
hour of patience more. Then God will no more en- 
treat you to be converted. He will not always stand 
over you with salvation, and say, O that thi's sinner 
would repent and live! 0 that he would take th^ 



204 



FIFTY REASONS. 



mercies that I have provided for him ! Do not expect 
that God should do this always with you ; for it will 
not be. 

45. Your delays w r eary the servants of Christ that 
are employed for your recovery. Ministers will grow 
weary of preaching to you, and persuading you. When 
we come to men that were never warned before, we 
come in hopes that they will hear and obey ; and this 
hope puts life and earnestness into our persuasions : but 
when we have persuaded men but a few times in vain, 
and leave them as we found them, our spirits begin to 
droop and flag ; much more, when we have preached 
and persuaded you many years, and still you are the 
same, and are but where you were, — this dulls a 
minister's spirit, and makes him preach heavily and 
coldly, when he is almost out of heart and hope. 

Truly, sirs, I must tell you, for my own part, that 
if it had not been for those that gave me better en- 
couragement by their obedience, I should never have 
held out with you a quarter of this time. If all had 
profited as little as some, and all remained in an un- 
converted state as some ; if the humble, penitent 5 
obedient ones among you, had not been my com- 
fort and encouragement under Christ, I had been i 
gone from you many years ago ; I could never have 
held out till now : either my corruption would have 
made me run away, with Jonah, or my judgment 
would have commanded me to shake off the dust off 
my feet as a witness against you, and depart. 

But to what end do I speak all this to you ? To 
what end? Why, to let you see how you abuse ) 
both God and man, by your delays and disobedience. j 
You cannot possibly do us, that are your teachers, \\ 
a greater injury or mischief in the world. It is not I 
in your power to wrong us more. Are our studies 1 
and our labours worth nothing? Are our watchings 
and waitings worth nothing ? Are our prayers, and J 
tears, and groans, to be despised? God will not de- i] 
spise them, if you do ; believe it, he will set them 
all on your account, and you will one day have a J 
heavy reckoning of them, and pay full dear lor them, j 



FIFTY REASON?. 205 

fa it equal dealing with us, that when we are watch- 
ing for your souls, as men that know we must give 
an account, you should rob us of our comfort^ and 
make us do it with sighs and sorrow? Yea, that 
you should undo all that we are doing, and make 
us lose our labour and our hopes ? And yet do you 
not think to pay for this? Many years we have 
been persuading you but to turn and live, and yet you 
are unturned ; you have been convinced long, and 
thinking on it ; and wishing long, and talking of it ; 
and promising long, and yet it is undone, and here is 
nothing hut delays. We see, while you delay, death 
takes away one this week, and another the next week, 
and you are passing into the other world apace ; and 
yet those that are left behind will take no warning, but 
still delay: we see that Satan delays not while you 
delay : he is day and night at work against you : if he 
seem to make a truce with you, it is that he may be 
doing secretly, while you suspect him not ; we see that 
sin delayeth not while you delay ; it is working like 
poison or infection in your bodies, and seizing upon 
your vital powers ; it is every day blinding you more 
and more, it is hardening your hearts more and 
more, and searing your consciences, to bring you 
past all feeling and hope. And must we stand by and 
see this miserable work with our people's souls, and all 
be frustrated and rejected by themselves that we do for 
their deliverance ? I pray you deal but fairly with us, 
and tell us whether ever you will turn or not. If you 
will not, but are resolved for sin and hell, say so, that 
we may know the worst ; speak out your minds, that 
we may know what to trust to. But if still you say, 
you will turn — when will you do it ? You will do it, 
and you hope you shall : but when ? How long would 
you have us wait yet ? Nay, T must tell you, that you 
even weary God himself. It is his own expression, 
(Mai. ii. 17. Isa. xliii. 24.) " Thou hast wearied me 
with thine iniquities." (Isa. i. 14.) And I must say 
to you as the Prophet, (Isa. vii. 13.) " Is it a small thing 
for you to weary men, but you will weary my God 
aJao ?" Consider what it is that you do. 

18 



we 



FIFTY REASONS. 



46. Consider, also, that you are at a constant and 
unspeakable loss every day and hour that you delay 
your conversion. O ! little do you know what you 
deprive yourselves of every day. If s. slave in the 
galleys or prison might live at court, as a favourite oi 
the prince, in honour, and delight, and ease, would he 
delay either years or hours ? Or would he not rather 
think within himself, Is it not better to be at ease and 
ib honour, than to be here ? As the prodigal sa-id, 
" How many hired servants of my father have bread 
enougli and to spare, and I perish with hunger !" All 
this while I might be in plenty and delight. — All the 
while that you live in sin, you might be in favour oi 
God, in the high and heavenly employments of the 
saints ; you might have the comforts of daily commu- 
nion with Christ and with the saints ; you might be 
laying up for another world, and might look death in 
the face with 4 faith and confidence, as one that cannot 
be conquered by it ; you might live as the heirs ot 
heaven on earth. All this, and more than this, you lose 
by your dela} s ; all the mercies of God are lost upon 
you ; your food and raiment, your health and wealth, 
<vhich you set so much by, all is lost, and worse than 
jost, for they turn to your greater hurt ; all our pains 
with you, and all the ordinances of God which you 
possess, and all your time is lost, and worse. And do 
you think it, indeed, a wise man's part, to live any 
longer at such a loss as this, and that wilfully and for 
nothing ? If you knew your loss, you would not think so. 

47. Nay, more, you are all this while doing that 
which must be undone again, or you will be undone 
for ever. You are running from God, but you must 
come back again, or perish when all is done. You are 
learning a hundred carnal lessons and false conceits, 
that must be all unlearned again ; you are shutting up 
your eyes in wilful ignorance, which must be opened 
again : you mustlearn the doctrine of Christ, the great 
Teacher of the Church, if you stay never so long, or 
else you would be cut ofT from nis people. Acts iii, 
22. and vii. 37. 

When you have been iong accustoming yourselves 



FIFTY REASONS. 



207 



to sin, you must unlearn and break all these customs 
again. You are hardening your hearts daily, and they 
must again he softened. And I must tell you, that 
though a little time and lahour may serve to do mis- 
chief, yet it is not quickly undone again. You may 
sooner set your house on fire than quench it. You 
may sooner cut and wound your bodies, than heal them 
again ; and sooner catch a cold or a disease than cure 
it ; you may quickly do that which must be longer 
undoing. Besides, the cure is accompanied with pain , 
vou must take many a bitter draught, in groans or 
tears of godly sorrow, for these delays : the wounds, 
that you are now giving your souls, must smart, and 
smart again, before they are searched and healed to 
the bottom. And what man of wisdom would make 
himself such work and sorrow ? Who would travel 
on an hour longer, that knows he is out of his way, 
and must come back again ? Would you not think 
him a madman that would say, I will go on a little fur- 
ther, and then I will turn back ? 

48. And methinks if it were but this, it would terrify 
you from your delays, that it is likely to make your 
conversion more grievous, if you should have so great 
mercy from God, after all, to be converted. God must 
send either some grievous affliction to fire and frighten 
you out of your sins, or else some terrible horrors of 
conscience, that should make you groan, and groan 
again, in the feelings of your folly. The pangs and 
throes of conscience, in the work of conversion, are 
far more grievous in some than in others. Some are 
even on the rack, and almost brought beside their wits, 
and the next step to desperation, with horror of soul 
and the sense of the wrath of God ; so that they lie 
in doubts and complaints many a year together, and 
think that they are even forsaken of God. And to 
delay your conversion is the way to draw on either this 
or worse. 

49. Consider, also, that delays are contrary to the 
very nature of the work, and the nature of your souls 
themselves. If indeed you ever mean to turn, it is a 
work of haste, and violence, and diligence, that you 



209 



FIFTY REASONS 



must needs set upon. You must " strive to enter in, for 
the gate is strait, the way is narrow that leads to life, 
and few there be that find it." " Many shall seek to 
enter, and shall not be able." " When once the mas- 1 
ter of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, 
and ye begin to stand without, and knock at the door, 
saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, he shall answer, I know 
you not whence you are, depart from me, all ye work- 
ers of iniquity." It is a race that you are to run, and 
heaven is the prize. " And you know that they which 
run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize ; and 
therefore you must so run, as that you may win and 
obtain." 

And what is more contrary to this than delay ? l'ou 
are soldiers in fight, and your salvation lieth in the 
victory ; and will you trifle in such a case, when death 
or life is even at hand ? You are travellers to another 
world, and will you stay till the day is almost past, be- 
fore you will begin your journey? Christianity is a 
work of that infinite consequence, and requireth such 
speedy and vigorous despatch, that delay is more un 
reasonable in this than in any thing in all the world. 

50. If all this will not serve to make you turn, let 
me tell you, that while you are delaying, your judgment 
doth not delay ; and that when it comes, these delays 
will multiply your misery, and the remembrance of 
them will be your everlasting torment. Whatever you 
are thinking of, or whatever you are doing, your dread- 
ful doom is drawing on apace, and misery will over- 
take you, before you are aware. When you are in the 
alehouse, little thinking of ruin, even then is your 
damnation coming in haste ; when you are drowned 
in the pleasures or cares of the world, your judgment 
is still hastening. You may delay, but it will not delay, 
It is the saying of the Holy Ghost, " Whose judgment 
now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation 
slumbereth not." You may slumber, end that so care- 
lessly, that we cannot awake you, but your damnation 
slumbereth not, nor hath done of a long time, while 
you thought it slumbered ; and when it comes, it will 
awaken you, As a man that is in a coach on the road, 



FIFTY REASONS, 



209 



or in a boat on the water, whatever he is speaking, or 
thinking, or doing, he is still going on, and hastening 
to his journey's end, or going down the stream ; so 
whatever you think, or speak, or do, whether you 
believe it, or mock at it, whether you sleep or wake, 
whether you remember it or forget it, you are hasten- 
ing to destruction, and you are every day a day nearer 
to it than before. " Behold the Judge standeth before 
the door." The Holy Ghost hath told you, " the Lord 
is at hand." " The day is at hand ; the time is at 
hand ; the end of all things is at hand." Rom. xiii. 
12. Rev. xxii. 10. 1 Pet. iv. 7. "Behold, saith the 
Lord, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to 
give to every man according as his work shall be." 
And do you, as it were, see the Judge approaching, 
and yet will you delay ? 

And withal consider, that when it comes, it will be 
most sore to such as you ; aud then what thoughts do 
you think you shall have of these delays ? You are 
unable to conceive how it will torment your consciences, 
when you see that all your hopes are gone, to think, to 
what you have brought yourselves by your trifling. To 
feel yourselves in remediless misery, and remember how 
long the remedy was offered you, and you delayed to 
use it till it was too late. To see that you are for ever 
shut out of heaven, and remember that you might have 
had it as well as others, but you lost it by delay. O 
then it will come with horror into your mind, How often 
was I persuaded, and told of this ? How often had 
I inward motions to return ? How often did I purpose 
to belholy, and to give up my heart and life to God? 
I was even ready to have yielded, but I still delayed, 
and now it is too late. 

And now, having laid you down no less than fifty 
moving considerations, if it be possible to save you from 
these delays, I conclude with this request to you, who- 
ever you be that read these lines, that you would but 
consider of all these reasons, and then entertain them as 
they deserve. Ther.e is not one of them that you are 
able to gainsay, much less all of them. If after the read- 
ing of all these, you can yet believe th^t vou have reasons 
18* 



210 



FIFTY SEASONS. 



to delay, your understandings are forsaken of God ; but 
if you are forced to confess that you should not delay, 
what will you do then ? Will you obey God and your ^ 
own consciences, or will you not ? Will you turn this 
hour without delay ? Take heed of denying it, lest you 
have never such a motion more. You know not but 
God, who calls you to it, may be resolved that it should 
be now or never. I do beseech you, yea, as his mes- 
senger, I charge you in his name, that you delay not an 
hour longer, but presently be resolved, and make an 
unchangeable covenant with God ; and, as ever you 
would have favour in that day of your distress, dela\ 
not now to accept his favour in the day of your visita- 
tion. 

O what a blessed family were that, who upon the 
reading of this, Avould presently say, We have done 
exceeding foolishly in delaying so great a matter so long ; 
let us agree together to give up ourselves to God with- 
out any more delay. This shall be the day ; we will 
stay no longer. The flesh, and the world, and the 
devil, have had too much already. It is a wonder of 
patience that hath borne with us so long ; we will 
abuse the patience of God no longer, but begin to be 
absolutely his this day. If this may be the effect ot 
these exhortations, you shall have the everlasting bless 
ing ; but if still you delay, I hope I am free from the 
guilt of your blood. 



EXTRACTS 



FROM 

BAXTER'S DYING THOUGHTS. 



The reader has witnessed in the preceding pages the fervent zeal 
and deep anxiety of the pious author in urging on the impenitent* 
the necessity of immediately turning to God and repairing to the 
Saviour, in order to escape eternal death. In the following se- 
lections are exhibited some of the peaceful and happy reflections 
which the author indulged, in relation to his own prospects in the 
near view of death. 

The sanctifying operations of the Spirit of God are 
the earnest of heaven, and the sure prognostic of our 
immortal happiness. It is " a change of grand impor- 
tance" to man, to be renewed in his mind, his will, and 
life. It repairs his depraved faculties. It causes man 
to live as man, who was degenerated to a life too much 
like the brutes. Men are " slaves to sin, till Christ 
makes them free. 15 " Where the spirit of the Lord is, 
there is liberty " If " the love of God shed abroad on 
our hearts, 55 be not our excellence, health, and beauty, 
what is ? " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and 
that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 55 Without 
Christ, and his Spirit, we can do nothing. Our dead 
notions, and reason, though we see the truth, have not 
power to overcome temptations, nor raise up man's 
soul to its original and end, nor possess us with the love 
and joyful hopes of future blessedness. It were better 
for us to have no souls, than have our souls void of the 
Spirit of God. Heaven is the design and end of this im 
ortant change. What is our knowledge and faith, 
ut to know and believe that heaven consists in the glory 
and love of God there manifested, and that it was pur- 



212 



DYING THOUGHTS. 



chased by Christ, and given by his covenant ? What 
is our hope, but " the hope of glory," which we through 
the Spirit wait for ? What is our love, but a desire of 
communion with the blessed God, begun here, and per- 
fected hereafter ? What Christ teaches and commands, 
he works in us by his Spirit. He sends not his Spirit 
to make men craftier than others for this world, but 
4C wiser to salvation," and more holy and heavenly. 
"The children of this world are in their generation 
wiser than the children of light." Heavenly minded- 
ness is the special work of the Spirit. In producing 
this change, the Spirit overcomes all opposition from the 
world, the flesh, and the devil, Christ first overcame 
the world, and teaches and causes us to overcome it, 
even its flatteries, and its frowns. " Our faith is our 
victory." Christ promised his Spirit to all true be- 
lievers, to be in them as his advocate, agent, seal, and 
•mark ; and indeed, the Spirit here, and heaven here- 
after, are the chief of all his promises. That this Spirit 
is given to all true believers, is evident by the effects of it. 
They have ends, affections, and lives, different from the 
rest of mankind. They live upon the hopes of a better 
life, and their heavenly interest overrules all the oppo- 
site interests of this world : in order to which they live 
under the conduct of divine authority; and to obey 
and please God is the great business of their lives. The 
men of the world discern this difference, and therefore 
hate and oppose them, because they find themselves 
condemned by their heavenly temper and conversation. 
Believers are conscious of this difference ; for they de- 
sire to be better, and to trust and love God more, and 
to have more of the heavenly life and comforts ; and 
when their infirmities make them doubt of their own 
sincerity, they would not change their governor, rule, 
or hopes, for all the world ; and it is never so well and 
pleasant with them, as when they can trust and love 
God most ; and in their worst and weakest condition 
they would fain be perfect. Indeed, whatever real 

§oodness is found among men, it is given by the same 
pirit of Christ ; but it is notorious, that in heavenly 
minded ness and virtue, no part of the world is com- 



DYING THOUGHTS. 



213 



; parable to serious Christians. This Spirit, Christ also 
| expressly promised, as the means and pledge, the first 
fruits and earnest of the heavenly glory ; and, therefore, 
it is a certain proof that we shall have such a glory. 
He that gives us a spiritual change, which in its nature 
I and tendency is heavenly ; he that sets our hopes and 
hearts on heaven, and turns the endeavours of our lives 
towards future blessedness, and promised this prepara- 
l tory grace as the earnest of that felicity, may well be 
! trusted to perform his word in our complete eternal 

{ glory. 

" And now, O my soul ! why shouldst thou draw 
| back, as if the matter was doubtful ? Is not thy 
foundation firm ? Is not the way of life, through the 
valley of death, made safe by him that conquered death ? 
j Art thou not yet delivered from the bondage of thy 
fears ? Hast thou not long ago found in thee the mo- 
tions and effectual operations of this Spirit ? and is he 
not still residing and working in thee, as the agent and 
witness of Christ ? If not, whence are thy aspirations 
after God, thy desires to be nearer to his glory, to know 
him and love him more ? Whence came all the pleas- 
ure thou hast had in his sacred truth, and ways, and 
service? Who subdued for thee thy folly, pride, and 
vain desires? W r ho made it thy choice to sit at the 
feet of Jesus, and hear his word, as the better part, and 
count the honours and preferments of the world but 
dross ? Who breathed in thee all those requests thou 
hast sent up to God ? Remember what thou wast in 
the hour of temptation, how small a matter has drawn 
thee to sin. Forget not the days of thy youthful vanity. 
Overlook not the case of thy sinful neighbours, who, in 
the midst of light, still live in darkness, and hear not the 
loudest calls of God. Is it no work of Christ's Spirit 
that has made thee to differ ? Thou hast nothing to 
boast of, and much to be humbled, and also to be thank- 
ful for. Thy holy desires are, alas ! too weak ; but 
they are holy. Thy love has been too cold ; but it is 
the most holy God whom thou hast loved. Thy hopes 
have been too low ; but thou hast hoped in God, and 
for his heavenly glory. Thy prayers have been too 



214 



DYING THOUGHTS. 



dull and interrupted; but thou hast prayed for holiness 
and heaven. Thy labours have been too slothful; but 
thou hast laboured for God and Christ, and the good of 
mankind. Though thy motion was too weak and 
slow, it has been Godward, and therefore it is from 
God. 0 bless the Lord, not only for giving thee his 
word, and sealing it with miracles, but also lor fre- 
quently and remarkably fulfilling his promises, in the 
answer of thy prayers, and in great deliverance of thy- 
self and of many others ; and that he has by regenera- 
tion been preparing thee for the light of glory ! And 
wilt thou yet doubt and fear, against all this evidence, 
experience and foretaste ?" 

Why should it seem a difficult question, How my soul 
may ivillingly leave this world, and go to Christ inpeace ? 
The same grace which regenerated me, must bring me 
to my desired end. " Believe and trust thy Father, 
thy Saviour, and thy comforter. Hope for the joyful 
entertainments of the promised blessedness. And long 
by love for nearer divine union and communion. Thus, 
O my soul, mayst thou depart in peace." 

How clearly does reason command me to trust him, 
absolutely and implicitly to trust him, and to distrust 
myself! He is essential, infinite perfection, wisdom, 
power, and love. There is nothing to be trusted in any 
creature, but God working in it, or by it. I am alto- 
gether his own, by right, by devotion, and by consent. 
He is the giver of all good to every creature, as freely 
as the sun gives its light, and shall we not trust the 
sun to shine ? He is my Father, and has taken me 
into his family, and shall I not trust my heavenly 
Father ? He has given me his Son, as the greatest 
pledge of his love, and " shall he not with him also 
freely give me all things ?" His Son purposely came 
to reveal his Father's unspeakable love, and shall I not 
trust him who has proclaimed his love by such a mes- 
senger from heaven ? He has given me the spirit of 
his Son, even the spirit of adoption, the witness, pledge, 
and earnest of heaven, the seal of God upon me, " holi- 
ness to the Lord," and shall I not believe his love, and 
trust him ? He has made me a member of his Son, 



DYING THOUGHTS. 215 

I and will he not take care of me, and is not Christ to be 

I trusted with his members ? I am his interest, and the 
interest of his Son, freely beloved, and dearly bought, 
and may I not trust him with this treasure ? He has 
made me the care of angels, who " rejoiced at my re- 
pentance," and shall they lose their joy, or ministration ? 
He is in covenant with me, and has " given me many 
great and precious promises," and can he be unfaithful ? 
My Saviour is the forerunner, who has entered into the 
holiest, and is there interceding for me, having first 

i conquered death to assure us of a future life, and as- 
cended into heaven, to show us whither we must as- 

! cend, and having " said to his brethren, I ascend to my 
Father and your Father, to my God and your God 
and, shall I not follow him through death, and trust 

[ such a guide and captain of my salvation ? He is there 
to " prepare a place for me, and will receive me unto 
himself," and may I not confidently expect it? He 
told a malefactor on the cross, " to-day shalt thou be 

I with me in paradise," to show believing sinners what 
they may expect. His apostles and other saints have 
served him on earth with all these expectations. " The 
spirits of just men made perfect," are now possessing 
what I hope for, and I am a " follower of them, who, 
through faith and patience, inherit the promised" fe- 
licity ; and may I not trust him to save me, who has 
already saved millions? 

What abundant experience have I had of God's 
fidelity and love, and after all shall I not trust him ? 
His undeserved mercy gave me being, chose my pa- 
rents, gave them affectionate desires for my real good, 
taught them to instruct me early in his word, and edu- 
cate me in his fear, made my habitation and compan- 
ions suitable, endowed me with a teachable disposition, 

- put excellent books into my hands, and placed me un- 
der wise and faithful schoolmasters and ministers. 
His mercy fixed me in the best of lands, and in the best 
age that land had seen. His mercy early destroyed in 
me all great expectations from the world, taught me to 
bear the yoke from my youth, caused me rather to 
groan under my infirmities, than struggle with power- 



i 



216 



DYING THOUGHTS. 



ful lusts, and chastened me betimes, hut did not give 
me over unto death. Ever since I was at the age of 
nineteen, great mercy has trained me up in the school 
of affliction, to keep my sluggish soul awake in the 
constant expectations of my change, to kill my proud 
and worldly thoughts, and to direct all my studies to 
things the most necessary. How has a life of constant 
tut gentle chastisement urged me to " make my calling 
and election sure," and to prepare my accounts, as one 
that must quickly give them up to God ? The face of 
death, and nearness of eternity, convinced me what 
books to read, what studies to prosecute, what com- 
panions to choose, drove me early into the vineyard of 
the Lord, and taught me to preach as a dying man to 
dying men. It was divine love and mercy which made 
sacred truth so pleasant to me, that my life under all 
my infirmities, has been almost a constant recreation. 
How far beyond my expectations has a merciful God 
encouraged me in his sacred work, choosing every 
place of my ministry and abode to this day, without my 
own seeking, and never sending me to labour in vain ! 
How many are gone to heaven and how many are in 
the way, through a divine blessing on the word which 
in weakness I delivered ! Many good Christians are 
glad of now and then an hour to meditate on God's 
word, and refresh themselves in his holy worship, but 
God has allowed and called me to make it the constant 
business of my life. In my library, I have profitably 
and pleasantly dwelt among the shining lights, with 
which the learned, wise, and. holy men of all ages, have 
illuminated the world. How many comfortable hours 
have I had in the society of living saints, and in the love 
cf faithful friends. How many joyful days in solemn 
worshipping assemblies, where the Spirit of Christ, has 
been manifestly present, bothwith ministers and peo- 
ple! 



I 




! 




i 



I 




* J 





; 

Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2005 

V * * 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 11 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




0 014 239 203 3 



